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Kelley Blue Book also known as KBB has launched a new feature-rich mobile web app for the iPhone free of charge.  This new optimized page will allow users to view new and used car information from their iPhone, and iPod Touch.  A web app is different then an iPhone app, as it only optimizes the current web page for mobile viewing.

KBB has been around for over 80 years, and has always provided the latest ratings and pricing on vehicles.  This new feature will help to enable consumers make better educated decisions when purchasing a vehicle.  A person buying a car could literally access the site in front of the dealer and show him if he is offering a good deal.  Through this new designed web app, you can view videos, photos, and even new car reviews.

Using the site with my new 3G iPhone, was effortless, and the UI was extremely clean.  Reaching the new optimized site is as simple as going to www.kbb.com from the safari on your iPhone or iPod Touch, and the site will automatically direct optimize the site for you.

This week PicLens, now referred to as Cooliris, announced that their amazing product is ready to be used on Safari 3.1 for Mac users.  For users like myself, this is a more then welcomed update.  A couple of weeks ago I got smart and threw away my PC and bought an iMac, vowing to never again use IE, and stick to Safari/Firefox/Flock.  Once you use an add on like Cooliris it makes it next to impossible to go back and view photos/videos the old way.  After installing Cooliris onto one of the sites I co-founded, and then installing it for full time use while surfing the web, I became addicted to it.

So I, like thousands of other Safari users sent emails to Cooliris asking them to add their viewing service to Safari.  Well this week they answered all of the Safari users prayers for Cooliris and released Cooliris v1.8.  Now users of Safari 3.1 can view their web media in style.  If you would like to download Cooliris for Safari 3.1 you can do so here.

A brief change over here at Rev2: While Craig is busy churning out awesome news-reviews-and-what’s-cool posts (which is what Rev2 has always been about), I have decided — instead of procrastinating when I have the time and hunting for inches of spare time when I don’t — to focus my Rev2 energy on writing about something which I am truly, truly passionate about (even so than perhaps than technically in-depth review about cool things) and have a million thoughts to share on, conveniently eliminating the need to hunt for topics, a certain kind of “pressure” that comes with the regular day-to-day tech blogging, and my personal laziness to write exclusively about something that doesn’t really excite me that much (X company launches Y feature? Great.)

Seeing that I based this blog — since its conception in 2005 — on the “next revolution”, I hope to be talking more about the people behind this revolution: entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. If you read Rev2, you may know that I have been busy working on my startup, Nincha, and for the past year, doing so has been a huge learning experience for me as a first-time entrepreneur. As I continue to learn, I hope to share occasional insights on Rev2 that I hope interest other ‘learning’ entrepreneurs such as myself, and together, we are able to build a conversation around it.

Unlike others who seek to provide definite answers, I’ll happy admit that I won’t have any answers, or any success stories, but what I do hope to do is to raise questions. Having read through about a dozen business memoirs over the last year — about successes, failures, eBay, Kinkos, Apple, Microsoft, 90s dot-bombs, the lot — something I have learned is that there is no definite pathway or answers to problems which we, as entrepreneurs face. There are only circumstances and proven methods and unproven methods, and for every proven method, there is an opposite proven method which has resulted in a similar consequence, and vice-versa. The only definite medicine we can carry is ourselves, and the values/ideas/beliefs/philosophies we base our companies and everything around ourselves on.

So, it is important that what we spend a lot of time thinking about this, and I think the best way to do it is to ask questions and learn, not by 5 dictated “guaranteed success tips” by a one-time-lucky millionaire, but by noticing every possible potential answer around the question, scanning the consequence, and seeing for yourself what really works and what doesn’t, and what’s best to believe in. Additionally, the best way to learn is through failure, so nothing — NOTHING — beats trying things yourself and learning from that. And believe me, this doesn’t apply just to startups, but mostly life in general.

I have a bunch of ideas I want to discuss, but I’d love to hear from you. Drop me a line or leave a comment and tell me what you’d like to learn, ask, seek, discover, explore, and what interests you as an entrepreneur. I hope to be checking in a little more frequently than I have, and thought-provoking you next-revolutioners.

Adium released Adium 1.3 last night.  The new version contains 261 fixed issues!  Adium, is a popular Mac instant messaging client that allows users to access a wide array of their current messengers.  Facebook users will be thrilled to know, that part of this new update features the inclusion of facebook chat to the list of their IM options. If you have downloaded Growl on your Mac, you might notice the amount of annoying updates. You can always choose to remove one of your messengers, as easily as you added them.

The problems Adium used to have with search have now been solved as well.  By clicking Command F, while in Adium, you will now see a search field pop open on the top of the IM list.  This alieviates the issues of having to scroll up and down looking for a specific name to message.

Adium is simple to use, and you can sign up for each IM service and access them through an expanding list on your desktop.  If you don’t use it, try it!

Noah Witherspoon, the still in college developer of the Tris Application has announced in his blog that he will be removing the Tetris like app from the iTunes store.  The move comes after receiving notice from The Tetris Company and Apple that he is in violation of trademark and copyright laws.

Witherspoon says “the approach they’re taking seems to me little more than petty bullying. They have little to no legitimate legal claim, and are, presumably, relying on my being a small developer with insufficient resources to defend myself. And — hey ho — it appears to be working. All I can suggest is that, if you have the slightest interest in playing Tris, you download it while you still can.”  He goes on to state “if Apple had not told me they’d “take action” of their own if I didn’t resolve the “dispute”, Tris would be staying up. I don’t think this will be permanent; when I have the time and can find a good copyright lawyer, I’ll be figuring out exactly what my position is and how I can make Tris available again.”

This is not the first app to be removed from the iTunes store due to outside turbulence.  Recently the BoxOffice app and Netshare were removed as well.  Apple should never allow an app like Tris into the iTunes store in the first place, if they later on would suggest it violated trademark laws.

Noah, it doesn’t seem beneficial to fight a corporation over a free app.  You should choose your battles in life.  Tetris is not bullying you around, but rather protecting their product, which is something each of us would do.  Although it is this authors belief that the United States doesn’t have any laws to protect the way a game plays, it isn’t like you changed the rules or even remotely the play of the game.  The name is even quite similar.  There is no differentiator to make your case.

It makes me wonder why a college student who obviously possess a great deal of programming talent, wouldn’t just develop his own game, instead of trying to just copy one that is already out there.

According to the friendfeed blog yesterday, a new design will be launched in beta mode, to help get feedback from existing members before making it available to the general public.  You can play with the new design here. Friendfeed has managed to keep their new design extremely clean, while adding a bunch of new features to make a users experience easier.

One of the new features the beta design includes, is the ability to upload photos with new posts.  This will allow members the ability to upload multiple files at the same time, without haveing to intall any plugins. Prior to this you needed to get photos from other sites including flickr.  This would signal that they will eventually allow members the option of uploading audio and video in the near future.

Another inclusion to the new beta design is the way groups and subscriptions are handled.  In the account settings, a member may now mass subscribe and unsubscribe from other friendfeed members.  Prior to this, it could take up half the day trying to subscribe to everyone who subscribed to you.  The groups now remind me of Google’s contact manager, giving me the ability make as many groups as I want and decide which friends go into which.

The new ability to see other people’s home feeds is something also included in the new beta design and can be quite helpful if you want to check out others friends and try to get them into your own list.  You can do this by seeing your friend’s updates and all of their friend’s postings.

The change that is most noticeable however, is the new sidebar on the right hand side of the new design.  It is designed to give you easy one click access to the feeds of the members you care most to read about.

Center’d is an excellently designed website that helps connect you with places, people, restaurants, maps, schools, shops, museums, hotels, and much more. The service is great and extremely easy to navigate. This website was certainly designed with UI in mind. Using Center’d, you can plan any activity or event with ease.

Center’d helps to plan everything from a single event to an entire school year. Using their tools, you can better plan your events by seeing who is attending.  This site can help make your everyday activities run a bit smoother and less stressful. Nowadays most people are too busy with their careers and have a hard time juggling their family lives with their business schedules. This is the perfect type of demographic to use center’d, as it will help them plan their days and free time in a more effective manner.

Center’d can assist in helping users in all their planning needs including galleries, entertainment, education, health & beauty, grocery, food & drugs, and trip planning resources etc. They are always ready to help you through e-mail and phone. It can also be quite effective if you are running a small business.

When you are on vacation, selecting the right hotel makes all the difference. Center’d offers hotel rooms that assists in making everything more plesant. No matter where or when you travel, Center’d can make your trip a great and everlasting experience.  Everything you want to know about the places you want to visit from Sydney to Seville, Shanghai to South Beach, they provide you a fast, and easy way to explore before you go. Also you can plan your events like concerts, ballgames or shows. Basically I have found they have many of the handy tools you would need to plan a trip, including getting last minute weekend deals.  People can spend less time planning and more time enjoying by making use of this handy website. This is a free local based site that can be used by all.

The social bookmarking service Ma.gnolia has announced at the Gnomedex conference today that they are going to make their code available in open source.  The gnomodex conference is being held in Seattle and brings together the best and brightest in blogging, podcasting, and overall tech enthusiasts.  Larry Halff and Tara Hunt made the announcement today during their early morning speech.

Having Ma.gnolia open up its source code, will allow any site or organization the ability to use Ma.gnolia on their internet presence.  The new version will have support for OAuth and OpenID.  The latest version will most likely be available sometime in September for developers.  The public will get to use it in the first quarter of 2009.

Ma.gnolia competes with sites like Delicious.  Since it is far less popular then declicious, this might help propel Ma.gnolia growth in a quick way.

For those who have noticed that craigslist has started to require Phone Verification in order to post in the services section, get used to seeing it for good.  It appears that verifying you are real through a phone number is here to stay. craigslist has already proved the system works in Erotic Services by cutting down spam by 80%. Since implementation in this section, it has then spread to other categories in the services section and rumor has it that craigslist will soon be enacting the same verification methods in Jobs and Real Estate, in the very near future.

How It Works:

Upon posting a classified in the services section you will be brought to a new screen informing you that you must verify your account.  You can choose to receive it through a text message or through a phone call.  Shortly after entering your area code and phone number in the required field, you will receive an automated phone call or text message, during which an authorization code will be provided to you.

Enter this authorization code on the next page, and your account will be verified.

Why This Is Good:

Verifying an account by phone has helped cut down the number of spam postings in the categories they have enacted it in.  Violating the new terms of service will lead to account suspension and also allows craigslist to blacklist the phone number used to verify the account.

Why This Could Be Bad:

While this new verification method will obviously reduce the amount of spam on craigslist, the jury is still out when it comes to the question of a members desire to relinquish personal information to a site that has grown mainly by its anonymous nature. With the information trail that comes requiring personal phone numbers, those who would otherwise post will think twice.  Already, there are dozens of services offering to sell verified phone numbers for $15.00.  Most of these numbers came from payphones, disposable phones, or other illicit methods.  So buyer beware, just because an account is verified, doesn’t mean there still cannot be a negative outcome dealing with someone in these verified sections.

Although it is still a rumor about craigslist adding the verification method to Real Estate and Jobs, it is a pretty reliable one.  The time frame is uncertain, but do not be surprised if the entire site one day requires phone verification to post a simple classified ad.  Should this happen, it will lead to a dramatic reduction in the amount of traffic and postings on craigslist.  Many members will flock to other sites in order to avoid having to share their personal data.  Think twice craigslist before you push your users away.

Although it appears the South Eastern Coast of Florida (where I live) will be spared from Hurricane Fay, it still alarmed us to go into prepardness mode.  During our inital preparations, my wife asked me to double check if we had certain supplies.  While looking around for many of the items, it dawned on my that many of the gadgets I was looking for, are already found on my iPhone.

Turning on any channel as a storm approaches, you will notice that they keep displaying a checklist of items your family should have during a hurricane.  On this checklist are the obvious items such as Water, Gas, Propane and Canned Food.  But also on this checklist are other items such as flashlights, and radios to tune into weather stations.  It was at this precise moment I realized how handy my iPhone could be throughout a hurricane.

During my last round of downloading free apps from the iTunes store, I downloaded the Flashlight App by John Haney.  Although there are several flashlight type apps, I chose this specific app since it was the first one.  Weatherbug, was another app I downloaded during this last download round as well.  Weatherbug has always been a program I frowned upon after uploading it onto my computer and getting some viruses.  Being the risk taker I am, I figured I would try it on the iPhone since I couldn’t see Apple letting anything harmful get through.

In the middle of the night when I awoke, I was without power briefly, and turned my iphone on to check emails. Then I had an epiphany…and realized, I could use my flashlight application to make sure I didn’t step on my wife’s dog.  So I flipped through my screens and found my Flashlight App, and used it to guide me through the otherwise dark house.  When I made it to the kitchen, I hit the WeatherBug icon and low and behold I had radar for my local area showing me the approaching feeder bands, as well as weather alerts for my local area.  This was truly awesome.  I always knew my iPhone was full of features, but never realized how many uses it has.

It would be beneficial for more companies to invest their time into making apps that could be used during emergencies.  Certain apps are worth paying for, and ones that could provide my family and I safety, are most likely the ones I would look to purchase.  My next round of downloads will focus on purchasing or downloading for free, apps that can help during times of need.