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Need to get your news instantly, no matter where you are? Good news is there are a number of great RSS readers for your iPhone, one of them being NetNewsWire.

Setup NetNewsWire, and you can read news from any site that publishes an RSS feed. NetNewsWire also syncs with all of NewsGator’s free RSS readers (NetNewsWire for your Mac!) so when you read a news item on your iPhone, when you get back to your Mac, the news item will be marked as read.

If you ever find the need to save a news item for later, you can do so using the ‘clippings’ feature. Any item you clip will become available on your other computers. Handy when you simply don’t have time to check it out… so it saves it for when you have more time.

I’ve used NetNewsWire a bunch in the past (for the Mac), and some others as well (namely NewsFire). Both of these perform well. I’ve found it really comes down to personal preferences… So my advice would be to try this one out, and if you don’t like it, try another

Many bugs and fixes have been addressed in the latest release… And for the price (FREE), it’s worth it for anyone that enjoys reading news via a solid RSS reader.

Screenshots:

Get for FREE at the App Store: NetNewsWire
More Info: NewsGator

iPhone addicts will be pleased to know that there is a new magazine coming to news stands shortly… dedicated to the iPhone! iPhone Life Magazine, published by Thaddeus Computing will hit the stands on September 9th with it’s ‘Premier Edition’ magazine.

It will be available at airports, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Wal-Mart and most other major booksellers/stores in the US (not sure about Canada?).

The first issue is set to be over 100 pages, and will have all sorts of goodies included from 85 hidden features on your iPhone, to top software in the app store, to celebrity iPhone sightings… and more.

You can subscribe for $25, and that will get you all issues through 2010, plus a digital version of each issue viewable on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

For more info and to subscribe, hit up http://www.smartphonemag.com/2010

New from the folks at Platial comes Nearby, an app that lets you ’see more of the world around you’.

With Nearby you can get instant location based notes contributed by others, right on your iPhone as you travel. But not only are there notes, there are pictures, stories and more, all contributed by good folks from around the world. You can also use the app to add your own contributions, and pin them to the map so that others can read your comments. Cool!

Using the Nearby app, you’ll find more to do and talk about, no matter where you are. The app is free, and as you can see from the screenshots below, it’s pretty cool looking… Pull up the map, and right there in front of your face are all kinds of notes contributed by others.

You can quick view popular places around your current location, and even get guided by other users’ collections and featured maps.

This one is certainly worth a look. There have been some reported bugs and glitches with the app, but that being said… It could make your vacations, and even everyday living just a little bit more exciting and interesting

Screenshots:

Get for FREE in the App Store: Nearby
More Info: Platial

I know from discussions here at Mactropolis, that I wasn’t alone in having battery issues. Here’s the situation… I’m currently running a 15″ MacBook Pro that has for some reason now has a funky battery. Whenever battery levels reach around 30% charge, the computer simply shuts off. No warning, no message, no anything. The screen goes blank and the computer goes silent.

I checked the system profiler, and compared to other comparable MBPs, my full charge capacity and cycle count were way down.

With this knowledge, I gave Apple a call. I do not have any remaining Apple Care Protection Plan coverage, and they offered me a case by case option of around $60/issue (I think that’s what it was)… But they also let me tell them what the issue was. I told them what was going on, and low and behold, Apple decided to send me a battery at no charge. It is coming to me shortly, and all I need to do is send back my old funky battery so that they can check out what is going on. This must be a somewhat common issue with some MBP batteries, as I can assure you they wouldn’t have offered me a new battery for free otherwise.

You can view the case details in an email I just received below:

Note to everyone: If you’re having any battery issues, give Apple a call. Worked for me. The part or problem might be covered under your ACPP or some other program that you’re not even aware of! Two thumbs up to Apple support on this one.

Do you want to quit smoking? Or would you like to encourage a friend or family member to quit? There’s a new software available for the iPhone called Quitter with that in mind.

Quitter is a free app that will keep track of how long you’ve been smoke-free… and also… it will keep track of the money you’ve saved by not smoking! Talk about another incentive to stop smoking! All you have to do is enter the cost of a pack of cigarettes and how many you typically smoked a day. Quitter will keep track of everything. Over time you’ll feel healthier, and your wallet will be a lot fatter.

Hopefully Quitter will help many of you out there kick the habit… Give it a try, it’s free for gosh sakes.

Screenshots:

Get for Free at the App Store: Quitter
More Info: Paze Interactive

A funny thing happened to me yesterday. I decided to chill out a bit, and go work from a lounge that was open in the sort of Italian area of my city… at a place called Bar Italia. (You should have seen the area when Italy won the world cup… talk about a PARTY). I had heard they have free wireless internet, coffees, good food and stuff, so it should do me quite well. I also met my good buddy Dan from Stunt Software there, and we worked away all afternoon on our own projects.

When I arrived I noticed there were probably 15 to 20 people out on the patio. More than I expected, but still a somewhat small crowd. One person out on the patio had a laptop, and it was a MacBook Pro. Didn’t see any other computers out there, but I was going to see more inside for sure…

Walking in the side door there weren’t many people inside. I noticed Dan and sat down, and we did the usual chit-chat, got a coffee, ordered some food and settled into work. The funny thing was… at some point during the afternoon, we both stopped and looked around. There we were, each with our MacBook Pros… and there were 5 other people in the lounge area as well…and each and every one of them had a Mac. No jokes. If I remember correctly there were 3 MacBook’s, and 2 MacBook Pros all sitting around us.

‘Kind of creepy’ I said…

‘Kind of weird’ Dan said…

No other computers in the building. No PC’s… No Dell machines, no nothing. Macs only.

No real point to this story other than the fact that Macs have certainly come a long way from where they were 2, 3 or even 4 years ago. You see them everywhere, and this little episode was just one example.

Seems that the folks over at Bloomberg Financial Newswire made a big ‘old ‘oopsie’ the other day. Seems that they went ahead and published a 17-page obituary of Apple CEO Steve Jobs yesterday… OOPSIE!

This isn’t the first time notable persons have been ‘killed off’ by a mistake. Perhaps the most memorable was the publishing of Author Mark Twain’s obituary in the New York Journal. When he heard of the publication, Twain remarked: ‘The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated’.

It has got to be common for major publications to keep obituaries updated and ready to go at a moments notice… as I’m sure they want to be among the first to publish the story… However, this time they got it wrong.

Wanting to capitalize on the relatively open technology market in heaven and hell, Steve Jobs commented that he is indeed working on a new ‘DeathBook Pro‘ for those of us in the spirit world.

Ugh… just jokes. Nevermind.

[via MacWorld UK]

One of Apple’s recent picks of the week is 2 Across, a crossword puzzle app for your iPhone. It lets you download and solve crosswords from The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and many more very popular newspapers and publications. If you’re a crossword junkie, this one is for you.

The latest version of 2 Across features 27 crossword sources from around the US, UK, Canada and Australia… And they’re always adding more sources to make your experience that much better.

There are a number of cool-ish features built-in to the game as well. You can choose between a virtual pen or pencil… and easily zoom in, out and around the puzzle. If you’re stuck, you can get help by checking or revealing any part of the puzzle.

A must-have for any crossword fan, priced at $5.99… 2 Across seems very worthwhile.

Screenshots:

Buy at the App Store for $5.99: 2 Across
More Info: Instant Cocoa

This time every year the rumor mill starts cranking out predictions of the iPod product line refresh, and this year is no exception. The iPod Nano and iPod Touch are expected to see updates. In addition to the iPod line up refresh it is expected that Apple will update it’s MacBook and MacBook Pro Product lines with new Aluminum cases with a tapered design. These are certainly exciting times, and I can’t wait to see what happens.

What do you predict? Leave a comment and let us know!

Remember those mysterious pictures found on an iPhone? They were images of a factory worker looking fantastically happy, indeed very pleased to be putting together iPhones. There was some concern that the poor girl might get fired as a result of these images, but I’m glad to report that this is rumored to not be the case.

A rep from the Foxconn factory (where the images were snapped) stated that the images were ‘accidentally’ left on the phone, and they were nothing more than test photos. When asked about the worker in question, the rep noted ’she is definitely not fired’. Good news!

To celebrate the ‘iPhone Girl’ keeping her job, why not Download the official iPhone Girl Wallpaper in our Wallpaper Gallery!?

[China.org via MacRumors]