Nobody’s really holding their breath to see Flash on iPhone, but of all companies, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) might be the one to offer a reasonable alternative. Microsoft UX Platform Manager Brian Goldfarb was demoing Silverlight working on an iPhone to wirelessly stream H.264 video at the Professional Developer Conference ‘09. Now, it’s a bit of a mis leading to think Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) and Microsoft are collaborating closely on this project; it’s the Microsoft guys doing the heavy lifting, Apple simply gave the go-ahead. It’s not entirely out of place for Silverlight to be sniffing around platforms other than Windows Mobile, though – they’ve dedicated to Symbian and Maemo, and there’s even rumblings of BlackBerry support.

An additional caveat is that all of the Silverlight rendering is done server-side à la Opera on Microsoft’s IIS servers, so you’ll be waiting quite awhile for buffering and processing before getting the final product on your mobile. Still, there’s progress being made, and if they can make it to iPhone before Adobe does, then I wager a lot of web developers eager to capitalize on the rich Safari mobile browser will happily make the switch.

[betanews via 9to5 Mac]

Remember the iPhone worm Will talked about a little over 2 weeks ago, the one that made an estimated 21,000 jailbroken iPhones in Austrilia with SSH installed switch their wallpaper to an image of Rick Astley?

The guy who developed that worm is a 21 year old named Ashley Towns. He just scored a job with “mogeneration“, an Australian iPhone development house for hire. Stories like this warm the cockles of my heart. Congratulations on your new career Ashley. You’ll always be known as the guy who Rick Rolled Australia, and you’ll look back at this one day and grin with glee that your silly childhood shenanigans are now paying for your booze, strippers and blow. Prost!

[Via: Sophos]

Snapture has updated its popular camera application for the iPhone. Version 2.0 builds on its powerful predecessor (which we covered in the past) to include new features such as:

• Photo sharing to Facebook and Twitter
• Auto-focus and tap-to-focus
• New color modes: black & white, sepia and inverse

Rest of the features from the previous releases were unchanged and include digital zoom (up to 5x), high-speed multi-shot, tap anywhere to take a picture, multiple image sizes, Level Aid, and so on.

Snapture is available in 12 languages and you can grab it from here (iTunes). The price is $1.99.

PCMag in collaboration with Computer Language Company has launched its first iPhone app which is a mobile version of their popular online Tech Encyclopedia. In other words, the dedicated application allows you to search through 25,000 tech terms or browse them in alphabetical format. And just like in the web version, there are extensive entries, cross-links to relevant terms, as well as 3,000 illustrations, photos and diagrams.

And that’s about it. Now, you be the judge whether it’s worth 2 bucks ($1.99), which is down from the usual price of $4.99. I think it is.

[Via: PCMag]

In its efforts to compete with AdMob (now part of Google (NSDQ: GOOG)), Greystripe has introduced a 99 cents per download program to guarantee iPhone application developers downloads of their free apps. The problem is that current CPC system leads to low conversions because there are a significant number of accidental clicks on banner ads that do not lead to downloads. Greystripe argues that app developers are paying as much as $10 per download with this model, hence they have something better to offer – pay only for actual downloads.

There is a catch, however – they want only the big boys, who need to agree on a minimum of $10,000 spend. Moreover, Greystripe says this is offer for the first 200 developers only, though I doubt they’ll refuse a “big society” check from the 201st company.

Anyway, it’s good to see the iPhone ad market evolving and I’m eager to see how/whether Google/AdMob responds to this. Additional details are available from this page.

And for the record, Greystripe has recently run campaigns to drive downloads for brands such as Gap, Sirius and Axe.

It’s been a long time since I noticed an interesting iPhone case. Now I spotted a new one called BackFlip which comes with a 2-way kickstand that works both horizontally AND vertically. Meaning it allows you to watch your beloved handset in portrait and landscape mode, which is cool.

Here are usage scenarios according to the company which makes the case:

• Flip it Out sideways for watching movies and videos
• Flip it Up for calls, texts, and just about every other application
• Flip it Back to put in your pocket or purse

I like it! And before I let you go, it’s worth adding that we’ll see more BackFlip cases released during 2010 which will be made for other devices, iPod Touch and Moto Droid/Milestone included.

So, now that I’ve touched a bit on some BlackBerry app deals for Turkey Day (and beyond)… it’s time to share some iPhone app love. The folks at Gameloft are celebrating Thanksgiving (and Black Friday) with decent sales on some of their more popular games.

Available now through Sunday the 29th, Gameloft has the following games up for grabs, for only $0.99:

• Terminator Salvation
• Shrek Kart
• Blades of Fury
• Real Tennis 2009
• Brothers in Arms: Hour of Heroes
• Castle of Magic
• Hero of Sparta

I have to admit, I’ve only tried out Real Tennis 2009. It was pretty darn good, and I expect the other titles to be solid as well. To check ‘em out for yourself, hit up the App Store.

One of our  readers helpfully pointed out that I haven’t covered the launch of the iPhone app for Nat West bank, in the UK – so here goes:

Nat West, a bank in the UK, has released an iPhone App. You can do banking things on it. You can get it from the App Store. End of Story.

Wow, some hot news just in…. Tesco (the UK’s leading Supermarket chain) is going to be stocking the iPhone 3GS before Christmas!

This is pretty big news when you consider that the next Operator that was due to get the 3GS was going to be Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) – but now it’s going to be a Supermarket! There is a little more to the story than it at first seems – Tesco runs its own MVNO, Tesco Mobile, which just happens to piggyback on O2 (NYSE: TEF)’s network! Moreover, Tesco Mobile is actually a 50:50 Joint Venture between O2 and Tesco.

So its not like (unfortunately) the Supermarket is going to do a “Buy one, get one free” deal (I wish!) – I think we’ll see pricing broadly similar to O2 and Orange pricing – with perhaps a little incentive (store voucher?)

Anyway, if you want to read the press release click here, and if you want to register interest click here.

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) searches for movies on Android, iPhone, and webOS are about to get a little more helpful today.  With a few taps, you can find showtimes, theatres, ratings, and category sorting. Throw in a dash of GPS integration to keep the results local, reviews, and streaming trailers, and you’ve got yourself quite the upgrade. Man, Google has been on a roll with the mobile news lately. Maps navigation in Android 1.6, web services facelift, Apps upgrades, and mobile coupons are all new this week. Here’s a video demonstrating the new movie search.

Fifty DKP minus for picking New Moon. Which are promptly earned back with the double-cross fist-bump at the end. If you’re in the US, UK, Canada, Ireland, Australia, or New Zealand, go ahead and boot up google.com on your mobile browser to try out the updated movie search.

[via Official Google Mobile Blog]