iLounge

By Charles Starrett

Senior Editor, iLounge
Published: Tuesday, October 7, 2008
News Category: Mix

Speaking at the recent Digital Music Forum West event, Pandora founder Tim Westergren has revealed that the iPhone has helped Pandora double its growth rate. According to Westergren, the iPhone now accounts for 1.5 million of Pandora’s 17 million members, and has had a profound affect on new users signups, with the daily average of new users growing from 20,000 to over 40,000. “It has people thinking a little differently about what internet radio is,” Westergren said.

Magneat is a new magnetic headphone cable manager that attaches directly to the user’s clothes, enabling greater freedom of movement. The button-shaped accessory features a front piece with an area for winding cord and a small notch in the top for securing the outgoing cord, and a back piece that secures the front using two strong magnets. It should be noted that the magnets could cause issues with hard drive-based iPods or the iPhone 3G if placed in close proximity to one another. Magneat is available in white or black, and sells for $15.

i.TV has released its new movie and TV guide application for the iPhone and iPod touch. i.TV presents users with current TV and movie listing based on their current location and other customizable profile settings. Most TV program listings are accompanied by rich background information such as show synopses, ratings, cast listings, and reviews, from both traditional publications and from other i.TV users. In addition, it also provides direct viewing of movie trailers and TV show previews directly from the iPhone or iPod touch. i.TV is available now as a free download from the App Store.

The Pragmatic Studio has announced its new 4-day iPhone Development Studio training course, to be held in Denver, CO on November 10-13. In the workshop, developers will learn how to build full-featured iPhone applications from experienced iPhone developers and authors Daniel Steinberg and Bill Dudney. Registration for the iPhone Development Studio includes a continental breakfast and full lunch each day, a binder with all printed material, internet connectivity and power during the Studio, and more. Alumni of Pragmatic’s courses can register for $1,595; for others the price is $1,895 through October 20, and $2,195 from October 21 on.