Podcaster, a native iPhone application that would allow users to download and listen to podcasts directly on your iPhone was recently denied access to the iPhone App Store by Apple. The overall opinion for why this happened was because this application duplicated the functionality of iTunes itself.

Denial into the App Store however did not stop the developer of Podcaster from releasing this amazing application. Earlier this evening I found out that Podcaster has been made available on the iPhone App. Black Market. Users with a Jailbroken iPhone can download Podcaster via the Cydia installer.

What’s intriguing about this development, is that this application retails for $4.99. When you start Podcaster you’re immediately notified that Podcaster is initially avaiable for a 14 day trial period. If you want to purchase Podcaster, you’re then instructed to go to http://www.nextdayoff.com to purchase an activation code that will be emailed to you.

What does this mean?

This means that Apple has just lost out on 30% of the revenue it would have taken on each sale if they would have allowed this application into the iPhone App Store. This also means that this developer can take in 100% of the profits for each activation code he sells.

Apple has made a major mistake by keeping a closed system with tight restrictions on what’s submitted to the iPhone App Store. By doing this they could potentially drive away other developers to find alternative means to distribute their application or find another platform altogether to develop for. Apple has also justified the importance of the iPhone App Black Market and the benefits of jailbreaking your iPhone.

You can find out more information about Podcaster at http://www.nextdayoff.com. Or, you can follow iPhonePodcaster on Twitter.

SPECIAL NOTE
This post was written with iBlogger a native blogging application for the iPhone. iBlogger was created by Illuminex, the creators of Ecto a desktop blogging application for the Mac. Find out more information about iBlogger at http://illuminex.com/iphone/iBlogger .

I was really excited to try out Typepad when I heard it was going to be released for the iPhone. The possibilities for mobile blogging are endless. No longer would I need to carry around my laptop and pray that I could find a Wi-Fi connection if I wanted to focus on my blog. However I was soon disappointed to find out that although their iPhone application was free, their service wasn’t free. Why pay for a blogging service when WordPress is completely free and a decent service to work with?

Thankfully my dissapointment would not last. Recently the makers of WordPress announced that they are releasing their blogging application on the iPhone for FREE. You can learn more about this endeavor at http://iphone.wordpress.org. This again fueled my imagination for the possibilities of mobile blogging.

Just a few minutes ago WordPress for the iPhone has just been released in the iTunes App Store. I quickly downloaded and installed it on my device. In fact I’m writing this exact post on my iPhone. Pretty impressive I must say.

Setting up the application was a breeze. All I had to do was enter my account information and the application quickly accessed my blog. Instantly I had option of viewing and editing posts that I created in the past.

Creating posts are also a breeze. Enter a post title, tags, and category information and your ready to start blogging. You even can add photos to your post by using the built in camera on the iPhone or choosing a photo from your library. Once your finished you can use the built in browser to preview your post.

So far I’m impressed with what this application has to offer. I’m really looking forward to testing out Wordpress on the iPhone in the coming weeks and see if it can be a viable mobile blogging solution.

I have discovered that one of the reasons why I do not blog as often as I should is that the actual process can be rather tedious at times. I wasn’t comfortable blogging directly within a web interface, nor was I happy writing blog posts within a word processor because it was to hard to manage. I realized that if I wanted to continue blogging I would have to do some research to find a workflow that I could be happy with.

Recently, I was excited about MacJournal - a journaling/blogging application from Mariner Software. Although an excellent program for maintaining a personal journal, I found that MacJournal fell short when uploading posts and media to your blog.

I have now moved to Ecto which is primarily a feature rich desktop blogging client made by Infinite-Sushi. Ecto supports a variety of blogging systems and also supports embedded Flash media. This is a feature that I was not able to find in Mars Edit which is another desktop blogging client.

Actually this is my first post from Ecto and I really like what I see thus far. Hopefully the process of posting to my blog will be easy and I can move forward and focus on creating good content for c4focus.

Twitter is a simple yet hard to explain site that has been plagued with stability issues that can frustrate any user. However there is one word that can only explain why I love Twitter and why I keep coming back to this site.

COMMUNITY!

The community of people that have surrounded Twitter are amazing. I have met so many wonderful people on Twitter both in my local area in San Diego, California and around the world that I would have never have met around any other social networking or micro-blogging website.

Twitter also has provided an opportunity for the community they have built to come together and help those around us that are in need. Which brings me to a story I found out about earlier today.

Marina Martin over at Oh Twitter wrote a blog post today about a loving father, his adorable daughter, and the uphill battle that they have in front of them.

Phil Burns (@Phil801 on Twitter) found out last week that his baby Serenity, has been diagnosed with Leukemia. At 22 months of age, young Serenity is in for a two and a half year long battle of treatments. Thankfully this precious girl has a loving family by her side to support her along the way. Not only that, the Burns family has the support of an amazing community that you can only find at Twitter to offer their thoughts and prayers for such a sweet girl.

Here is how we can help and offer our support.

• Follow Phil on Twitter at @Phil801 to receive daily updates about his daughter and to send his family your support. Also, head over to FriendFeed and subscribe to Serenity’s FriendFeed room.
• Subscribe to Phil’s blog where you can learn more about Serenity and how this story came to be.
• If possible, please make a donation. Serenity is one of eight kids which makes this a challenge on the families budget.

Thanks to Marina Martin over at Oh Twitter for bringing this to attention.

After listening to the net@nite podcast with Leo Laporte and Amber MacAuthur I found about about Animoto co-founded by Brad Jefferson.

Animoto is a really slick web application that allows you to create awesome videos based on your own pictures or music. Check out what I created in under three clicks of the mouse. Video was created using photographs that I captured from the San Diego Firestorm in 2003.