CES, as a general technology event, doesn't offer a plethora of Apple-related news though plenty of Mac and iPhone/iPod-related accessories are in evidence on the show floor. While most accessories are not terribly exciting (many of the speakers, hea...

CNBC’s “Planet of the Apps: A Hand-Held Revolution!” airs tonight at 10PM ET/PT and should be viewed by all iPhone owners. It is a one-hour documentary, reported by CNBC’s Scott Wapner, that takes a look at how this cultural phenomenon had truly changed the way we live and how the launch of the Apple iPhone back in 2007 gave birth to a revolution in mobile technology and a new breed of entrepreneurs.

As the popularity of apps continues to soar and users view them as an essential tool for everyday life, Apple has opened the door for outside developers to create new apps and a new breed of entrepreneurs allowing anyone from an engineer to a Hollywood star to an everyday person to become an app developer.

It starts in 20 minutes! Grab some popcorn and enjoy!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

CNBC’s “Planet of the Apps: A Hand-Held Revolution!” Airs Tonight

Just a reminder that CNBC's "Planet of the Apps: A Hand-Held Revolution!" special will be airing tonight at 10PM ET/PT. According to CNBC, it's a one-hour documentary about how mobile applications are changing our everyday lives. From the clips we've seen, it looks like the documentary focuses heavily on app developers and their stories. We've also heard that "Heroes" actor Greg Grunberg, who's also an app developer, will be talking about his experience with the iPhone and the App Store.

In short, it's probably worth setting your TiVo over if you can't find the time to watch when it airs. And for those who like to try before they buy, two preview videos follow below!

As many of you may know, Facebook released a much-anticipated update [App Store, Free] for its iPhone app yesterday which included two major new features; push notifications and the ability to sync your iPhone contacts with Facebook. Now because many of my contacts don't have photos, I turned on sync and toggled the "replace photos" option to off. Then disaster struck — well, kind of.

Long story short, the app replaced all of my contacts' photos without regard for that toggle switch. So to address the issue, Facebook released an update early this morning and everything works great now. But since when could developers release app updates in under 24 hours?

Filed under: Cool tools, Developer, iPhone, App Store

TUAW's devsugar series helps introduce developers to tools and tricks that they might not yet be familiar with. Today's tip centers on table-level badging and how to simply and easily add badged cells to your iPhone Xcode projects.

Badges are a natural partner for table view cells. When working with one-to-many data like mailboxes with letters, or RSS feeds with articles, they indicate how many items (or new items) branch off of each available choice. The standard Apple SDK does not offer badge functionality.

iPhone Developer Tim Grant Davies to the rescue. He has built an open source github repository for his TDBadgedCell project. Distributed under the Creative Commons Public License, this class allows you to add numbers to the right of each table view cell, and choosing a background color for each number.

Each badge is drawn in a custom view using CoreGraphics. This means the class does not rely on extra images stored in memory, and the badges are drawn quickly on demand. You can set color properties for each badge, indicating hues for both the normal and highlighted states.

Continue reading iPhone devsugar: Simple table badges

iPhone devsugar: Simple table badges originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

iPhone devsugar: Simple table badges originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The iPhone has made it’s first big, official splash at CES 2010, courtesy of the iLounge Pavilion, set up by the fine folks at iLounge. I’ve only spent half a day walking around so far, but you can’t throw an iPhone without hitting a major player at a big booth showing off some amazing new iPhone accessories.

Here’s a quick rundown of what I’ve seen so far:

• Etymotic, well known for their high-end in-ear headsets has incorporated the 3-button iPhone/iPod-style controller onto their cables giving you full volume, pause/play, etc. They’re also offering an entry-level model without the same system, but with excellent sound quality.
• HyperMac is offering a new external batteries with USB-out for iPhone.
• ExtremeMac is doing a range of charging as well, lots of options.
• Seidio is bringing the vibrant colored case love.
• Case-mate is offering a design-it-yourself option for cases, also a no-squirt-liquid-required body skin, and Hug, a non-proprietary inductive charging solution where you can buy their case and pad, or from another member of the consortium so you can mix and match. Nissan cup holders will also support it!
• Gelaskins is bringing in National Geographic and Marvel Comics licenses.
• Music skins is bringing Beatles licenses.
• Otterbox is offering lighter, but still armor-like solutions for those who want a little more convenience.
• Incipio is going with multiple materials and bold designs.

ics after the break!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

CES Day 01 Gallery — iPhone Accessories at iLounge Pavilion

With the forthcoming arrival of The Sims 3 World Adventures expansion pack, your mobile Sims will soon be able to take vacations.

For the past week or so I’ve been playing this new game from OstinGames, Zepi [iTunes Link - $.99] and it turns out it does belong in the “New and Noteworthy” section of the App Store. It’s quite an addicting little game that’s premise is simple, build the longest chain of bubbles of single color as fast as possible by tapping them. The longer chain of bubbles you have, the more points you receive.

• Bright, colorful skins (3 skins currently available)
• Global score ranking system (as well as local)
• Support of accelerometer: you can hold the device in a way which is comfortable for you
• Easy gameplay: even for kids

For $.99 this is definitely a game to check out and be sure to keep an eye out for an update that contains new new skins and sounds as it should be released soon.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Quick App: Zepi for iPhone and iPod touch

PC World rounds up the HDTV makers who've got 3D news at this year's CES trade show.

It's a well-known fact in the tech news world that Apple has a knack for spreading curiosity and excitement about upcoming products by igniting the rumor fire with strategic leaks of information to the media. An article from The Wall Street Journal's article on Monday left the Apple tablet rumor as good as confirmed. It also had all the signs of being a controlled leak from Apple to stir up buzz.