Jeff Porten

Taptu has tried to carve out a space for itself in the world of mobile news aggregators by compiling news feeds and social networks into one place. The latest update of the iPhone and iPad app looks to make sure that lone place for your news is accessible no matter what device you use.

Version 2.1 of Taptu, released earlier this week, lets users synchronize their feeds across devices. The app now lets you log in via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Google Reader; when you're logged into that user account, your feed will automatically load on any mobile device running Taptu.

Speaking during Monday's Worldwide Developers Conference keynote, Apple senior vice president of worldwide product marketing Phil Schiller touted the Mac App Store as the premier online store for computer applications. Apple's desktop app store reached that position just six months after its January 2011 launch.

Lots of apps promise to make your life eaiser. But MPower Labs' BuddyGuard offers to actually save your life.

BuddyGuard VIP provides a suite of services that aim to act as a safety net when you think you might be going into a dangerous situation. The app is designed to be launched and left running on your iPhone or iPod touch.

Cleverfiles has released Disk Drill 1.1, a new drive utility that preemptively protects your disk data and provides tools for data recovery in the event of a crash or accidentally deleted files. Disk Drill is perhaps most notable in its agnosticism about drive formats: it can handle crashed drives in Mac's own HFS+ format as well as Windows FAT and NTFS and lost data on solid state cards used in portable electronics.

Disk Drill monitors file activity on your hard drives and stores recovery information while the files are still in good condition, using a technology Cleverfiles calls Recovery Vault. If and when a file is lost, you can restore it from the vault, or use a "deep scan" option to rebuild the file directly from the data still stored on the drive. Disk Drill also allows you to create a disk image of a hard drive that you fear might be failing--unlike standard disk images, this clone will be an exact copy of every byte on the drive, which will allow you to perform data recovery from the disk image if the drive becomes totally unusable. Disk Drill includes live Smart monitoring of your hard drives to alert you when something is going wrong.

Editing movies on the go won't be just for iPhone and iPod touch users anymore. On Wednesday, Apple announced a new, universal version of iMovie for iOS with full iPad support, which will hit the App Store in time for the camera-equipped iPad 2's March 11 release.

At Wednesday's press event, Steve Jobs brought Randy Ubillos--the company's chief architect for video applications--on stage to present the newly-renamed iMovie for iOS. In his introduction, Jobs noted "[the app] is not a toy; you can really edit a movie on this thing."

Mobile programs may seem to magically appear on the App Store, but if you've ever been in the position of having to develop one for your company, you know that there's a lot more than magic involved. Putting a new app in the App Store requires not only programming expertise, but also learning the process of good app design and getting yourself involved in Apple's approval process. And that's an awful lot of knowledge to pick up in a short amount of time, particularly if you don't know your Xcode from your elbow.

Still, businesses have plenty of incentive to dive into the mobile apps game. Market research firm IDC expects the worldwide market for mobile apps to hit $35 billion by 2014, and with more items for sale than any of its competitors, Apple's iOS App Store figures to lead the way.

Sprint has added the Novatel Wireless MiFi 3G/4G to its roster of upcoming devices, replacing its earlier 3G-only Novatel device. It sells alongside the similar Overdrive MiFi from Sierra Wireless: Both offer mobile hotspot connectivity for up to five devices over Wi-Fi, using Sprint's WiMax 4G network in the cities where it is available, and reverting to 3G (EV-DO Rev. A) elsewhere.

The Novatel improves on the older Sierra's feature set with its smaller size (3 ounces versus 4.5) and an estimated extra hour of battery life (for a total of four hours). The Novatel also sports an eInk status display instead of Sierra's LCD. Other specifications are similar: GPS support through the Sprint network, a MicroSD slot to share files between connected users, and support for any device that can speak Wi-Fi, including iPods and iPads owned by people allergic to AT&T iPhone contracts.

Sprint has added the Novatel Wireless MiFi 3G/4G to its roster of upcoming devices, replacing its earlier 3G-only Novatel device. It sells alongside the similar Overdrive MiFi from Sierra Wireless: Both offer mobile hotspot connectivity for up to five devices over Wi-Fi, using Sprint's WiMax 4G network in the cities where it is available, and reverting to 3G (EV-DO Rev. A) elsewhere.

The Novatel improves on the older Sierra's feature set with its smaller size (3 ounces versus 4.5) and an estimated extra hour of battery life (for a total of four hours). The Novatel also sports an eInk status display instead of Sierra's LCD. Other specifications are similar: GPS support through the Sprint network, a MicroSD slot to share files between connected users, and support for any device that can speak Wi-Fi, including iPods and iPads owned by people allergic to AT&T iPhone contracts.

Getting technical support for your Apple products has become a bit easier with the introduction of the new Apple Support Profile Website. This site provides one-stop shopping for you to check the registration and warranty status of all of your Apple products. If you have a repair or support issue in progress, you can review Apple's records about the issue right from your Web browser.

Log into the site using your Apple ID (the same username and password you use in the iTunes stores), and Apple will display all of the computers they already know about. Oddly, although I've been using the same Apple ID for years and I've owned fifteen Macs (no, really), my profile page only displayed my old PowerBook G4 and an anonymous serial number next to an Apple logo. If your profile is similarly lacking, below these entries you'll find a link to manually register more equipment. The site can auto-detect the serial number of the Mac you're using to reach the site, although it can't do the same for iOS devices. (You can find your iPod touch or iPhone's serial number in Settings > General > About. There are similar entries in the Settings menu of most other iPods.)

The new year opens with a horse-race over smartphone domination, with The Nielsen Company reporting on market share from a poll conducted in November. Coming around the stretch-or just breaking out of the gates, depending upon where you see things-the iPhone retains the lead in smartphones with 28.6 percent, followed by BlackBerry at 26.1 percent and Android at 25.8 percent.

Nielsen does mention, however, that RIM's share is within the margin of error of both Apple and Android, meaning that it's technically tied with both. While the research firm maintains that Apple's lead over Android is clear, it does say that the overall smartphone market race is "too close to call."

If your idea of mobile computing includes going places where there are no wall outlets, QuickerTek can keep your MacBook charged with its Apple Juicz line of solar power chargers, now upgraded for use with the new MacBook Airs.

The Apple Juicz is a flexible photoelectric tarp which can be laid out upon or staked to the ground to absorb sunlight. The 27-watt model covers 41.5 by 30.5 inches, and recharges a MacBook Air in 12 hours; the 55-watt version is 59 by 43 inches, and does the same in six hours. Both fold up to notepad size for transportation in an included case.

Mobile software developer m3me has released the $10 Remote Conductor app for iPad, which makes your iPad a new input device for your Mac.

The app has three modes. In Trackpad mode, the entire iPad surface becomes a large trackpad, with support for multitouch actions. In Launch mode, a master list of all of your applications, organized by folder, is displayed onscreen to provide you with rapid access to these icons. (An added nice touch: your Dock is replicated on the iPad for even faster access.)