iPhone 3G may come to Russia later this year

Except for China—where Apple is in ongoing negotiations—Russia remains the largest country in the world without an iPhone distribution deal. While the first-generation handset was popular on the Russian gray market, with no less than President Dmitri Medvedev calling the device “his latest passion”, the 3G model has yet to come to the motherland.

Such a eventuality, however, could be in the offing. Reuters reports that Apple has struck a deal with Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), the largest cell phone provider in Russia. MTS has almost 84 million subscribers, making the company’s customer base larger than several of the countries where the iPhone 3G is already on sale. If Reuters’s source is correct, then the iPhone would launch in Russia in October, possibly amid another next round of country additions, like the ones due tomorrow.

Myst coming to iPhone

Cyan Worlds on Wednesday evening confirmed plans for an iPhone version of its legendary adventure game Myst. A release date and price have not been announced.

In posting to the Myst Online forums, Cyan employee “Chogon” confirmed that “iMyst” for iPhone was in the works.

“This is a small project that probably a very few of you know about. We are porting Myst to the iPhone. Ok, before some of you start groaning, this is an outside funded project that is keeping a few developers employed… but it is really more than that. It is an interesting and fun project. This is also a very small team with three of us (which includes Derek, Rand (not Randy) and myself).”

Audi releases A4 iPhone driving game

To promote its 2009 A4 sedan, automobile maker Audi has released Audi A4 Driving Challenge, a free iPhone game available for download through the App Store.

The game has you steer the A4 through three laps on five progressively more challenging courses, keep track of your lap time and course time, and displaying your speed. The game, which renders graphics from an overhead perspective, uses the iPhone’s accelerometer for steering, with on-screen buttons to operate the gas and brake pedals.

The Audi A4 Driving Challenge is unlikely to give other racing games on the iPhone a big run for their money, outside of the fact that it’s free. But what makes this noteworthy is that Audi is the first vehicle maker to reach out to customers by releasing an iPhone application. What’s more, Audi has set up a “microsite” especially for iPhone users to provide them with more information about the A4, including special videos, wallpaper, a dealer locator and other information.

Speck offers ToughSkin case for iPhone 3G

Speck on Thursday announced the release of the ToughSkin case for the iPhone 3G. The case costs $34.95.

A rugged rubber sports case designed to give the iPhone 3G maximum protection, the ToughSkin sports a heavily textured exterior that almost looks like a truck tire. The textured pattern helps you keep a grip on the ToughSkin and keeps the iPhone from getting dinged if it’s dropped.

The bottom part of the case is on a hinge to make it easy to dock the iPhone while it’s still in the case, and a removable holster/belt clip is included. The holster/belt clip rotates for use as a tabletop stand, as well.

In India, iPhone 3G more likely a consumer device

As India prepares for the launch of Apple's iPhone 3G on Thursday night, analysts and potential users here said the product will more likely be a device for consumers rather than a business phone.

The iPhone 3G will find more favor among consumers, at least initially, because the business segment already has established products like Research in Motion's Blackberry, said Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst at Gartner. The device is perceived more as a lifestyle product right now, he added.

"We would not deploy the iPhone 3G in our business until the product is proven in a business environment," said K. Purushottam, executive director of Wep Solutions India, an IT services company in Bangalore. Purushottam said he might buy the product for personal use.

Singapore gets iPhone, but no visual voicemail or iTunes

Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) will start sales of Apple’s iPhone 3G handset at midnight local time Thursday, but users who buy the phones won’t get support for visual voicemail or access to videos and music sold on the iTunes Store.

“On launch, customers will not be able to buy content from the iTunes Store. However, they will be able to buy applications from the Apple application store,” SingTel said, adding that visual voicemail will not be offered in Singapore.

The iPhone 3G will be available for free to Singaporean customers who sign a two-year contract that costs S$205 (US$145) per month, including 1,500 minutes of outgoing talk time and 3GB of data access. The cheapest plan for new subscribers costs S$348 for the 8GB iPhone 3G and S$508 for the 16GB model, and requires them to sign a two-year contract that costs S$56 per month and includes 200 minutes of outgoing talk time and 1G byte of data.

iPhone apps help your friends find you

The iPhone’s Maps app and Google Maps on the Web are great tools for figuring out how to get somewhere, but only if you know the precise—or at least rough—location of your destination. (Obvious, I know. Hear me out.) But what about those times when you’re out and about, trying to meet up with a friend, and neither side can figure out exactly where the other is? Solving that problem is the goal of a slew of new apps for the iPhone.

These apps—Breadcrumbs, GeoNumbers, Here I Am, Here I Am (yes, two apps with the same name), Over Here, and Ya Mapped—take advantage of the iPhone 3G’s GPS functionality to determine your location and then let you email that location, as a Google Maps URL, to anyone else. (You can edit the subject and body of these automatically-generated email messages.) The recipient can then open the URL in Google Maps in their Web browser to see your location and get directions to you. Even better, if the recipient receives the email on an iPhone, the link will open in the Maps application, which can also pinpoint their location and show exactly how to get to you; there’s no need to find a computer with an Internet connection. It's a simple function, but one that can be quite useful.

(Unfortunately, none of the apps can send the URL via SMS. It's also worth noting that these apps do work on the iPod touch and the original iPhone, but not nearly as well, due to the fact that these models use nearby WiFi networks, instead of GPS, to determine location—you’ll get much-less-precise results, and even then only if there are known WiFi networks nearby.)

Looking for a fix for Apple's iPhone fix

I love my iPhone 3G. It works well for phone calls, fast Internet surfing, and of course running the variety of applications that can be installed from the App Store. That is, it did work until I installed Apple’s recent software update.

Apple says the iPhone software 2.0.2 update improves 3G communications, but it turned my iPhone into a beautifully designed device that drops more calls than it did before. I was on an important conference call yesterday and the iPhone dropped me four times.

That’s not the only time either. I was on a couple of calls with friends and it routinely dropped those calls too. At one point, I hopped in my car and drove around to see if that would help any—it didn’t.

OpenClip aims to bring copy and paste to iPhone

Lo, Jobs gave us the iPhone and it was good…well, it was pretty good. As soon as people got their sticky fingers on an iPhone it was clear one thing was missing: copy-and-paste functionality.

Third-party app MagicPad snagged headlines not long ago by coming up with their own method for copying and pasting and, while that was all well and good, how much use can you really get out of copying and pasting in a single program? In the end, it was little more than a novelty. Copy-and-paste truly shines when you can take a piece of info from one app to another. Apple’s Greg Joswiak said that the company is aware of demand for the feature, but it isn’t a high priority.

Speck offers SeeThru cases for iPhone 3G

Speck is shipping their SeeThru hard shell cases for the iPhone 3G. The cases each cost $29.95.

SeeThru cases are translucent, available in clear, pink, black, red or purple. They provide full access to the iPhone’s controls and camera while protecting the back and sides from damage or dirt.

Rubberized no-slip finger rails are on the side, and the SeeThru case snaps on with a two-piece design. The SeeThru also doubles as a stand, allowing you to prop your iPhone on a vertical surface in “landscape” orientation to watch movies or other activities.