While I’ll be attending the keynote on Monday morning, at the “center of the app universe”, but we’re not going to live blog it. We’ve tried to give you live coverage of the keynotes in the past, but lets face it, others do it so much better. They take a team and just kick butt doing it. Here are a few tips on where you can follow along with the keynote live. Who does it well and who does it in ways they shouldn’t do it.

First, without a doubt, Ryan Block and gdgt cover it better than anyone else. Their servers rarely have problem with the load, and they post lots of great pictures. They must be really fast typers. [ watch it here: gdgt live ]

Other live sources include the usual spots: Engadget, MacRumors, Gizmodo(oops!), Ars Technica, TechCrunch.

Then there are other sources that give you good commentary and not just recite what is going on. One such source is Jim Dalrymple at The Loop. Watch there for some insightful thoughts.

In addition to the places above, if you really want to see or hear it or maybe even see it live, there are some pleces you can look. First, search Twitter for keynote stream or something similar and see if anyone is posting a link to a live stream of the event. While Apple doesn’t allow it, it’s impossible to stop. Someone in the audience of thousands will have a stream up on UStream, Qik, or one of the other live streaming services. Search those services to see what is popular at the moment and you’ll likely bump into one.

After the keynote is over, and we’ve had some time to digest it, we’ll be posting a summary of the announcements along with our take on them. Look for that late in the day, following the keynote.

If I can get a connection, I may post some images and notes to our Twitter stream during the event. But no guarantees on that. This should be an exciting day, let’s get going!

[ Apple Keynote Starting Soon — Where to Read About It Live is a post from 148Apps ]

Its the age-old developer story. Guy makes game, guy sells rights to game, guy gets game back again and remakes it for the iPhone. Okay, weve never heard that story either but it is the story behind retro game Qwak thats heading to an iPhone near you.

This cute, old school adventure game was originally made for the BBC (thats a computer not a UK TV network) 22 years ago and was then re-launched on the Amiga by Team 17, the guys who made Worms, in 1993. Qwak has lain dormant for several years until its original creator, Jamie Woodhouse, decide to bring it back to life via the iPhone. Learning the iPhone SDK as he went, Jamie has now completed the iPhone version, which he hopes will be available on the App Store very soon.

Check out the video below and youll see how this labor of love could quickly become the next addictive iPhone smash.

Qwak … coming soon to your iPhone from Jamie Woodhouse on Vimeo.

[ Retro Gaming Action. Qwak For iPhone Coming Soon is a post from 148Apps ]

Everybody loves the opportunity to send messages from their phone for free and PingChat! has been providing that opportunity to iPhone users since October last year. As long as your recipient has PingChat! on their device, you can send instant messages that appear like regular SMS notifications on the iPhone homescreen. PingChat! developer Gary Fung has now joined Enflick Inc where development of the app has continued with a larger team that includes John Lerner and Derek Ting, known for TextNow and Mail Notifier. These extra resources and the backing of Enflick have lead to the imminent release of PingChat! 2.0 with an impressive feature set.

Expected in a matter of days, PingChat! 2.0 will add the following:

-Multi-platform communication (Adds Blackberry and Android)
-Media messaging (pictures and video)
-Group messaging
-Voice Notes
-New User interface
-Location messaging (send locations via Google Maps)
-New servers and infrastructure to improve reliability

While we wait for this exciting update, heres a video of the new app in action.

$0.99

PingChat!

iPhone App – Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2009-09-24 :: Category: Social Networking

[ Great New Features In PingChat! 2.0 Coming Soon is a post from 148Apps ]

The Future of Voicemail Video Series is coming shortly to Mobile Industry Review.

For a long time I’ve been pondering the possibilities of the medium of voicemail. For years it’s been overlooked. We all rely on it daily, yet I’m sure hardly any of us give it more than a cursory glance once every few years. For such a critical service, I’ve found it really strange that, on the face of it, the innovation — aside from a few outstanding players — appears to have ground to a halt back in 1995.

I do remember that various operators here in the UK used ‘free voicemail’ as service feature. Long ago, though, I stopped worrying about the cost of voicemail. I just… well at some point, as far as I can remember, it just became free. Or it was added into my ‘minutes bundle’. I confess that I can’t actually tell you if Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile or anyone actually charges for voicemail service anymore.

Whilst it’s a ubiquitous service that (prior to getting her iPhone), even my mother understood, it’s time we saw some innovation. Surely the infrastructure now exists to allow mobile subscribers to go beyond the now-standard 10 voicemail limit? Why did Vodafone and Orange duck out of the visual voicemail issue with iPhone and decide to lumber their iPhone customers with an analog version? Whither transcription and how much of a benefit is that beyond the specific requirements of certain business users? Why don’t mobile operators offer subscribers the ability to get emailed copies of their voicemails? How many people actually use voicemail on a daily basis here in the UK and beyond? Is voicemail still a killer app? Was it ever? What’s next in the field of voicemail? Who’s doing good work, who’s really innovating, who are the companies to watch?

It’s these questions and more that I hope to answer through the upcoming Future of Voicemail Video Series.

The format is this: I will be interviewing 5 leading minds in the mobile and technology field on camera over the next few weeks. I’ll be asking them to comment on the history, the background to the industry, the technology in use today and to speculate on what they see as the next steps for the medium. I aim to bring you one video each week, starting in the next few weeks.

Bringing these kinds of features to the site is something I’ve always wanted to do — but it’s quite a logistical challenge to do so, both from an organisational and filming standpoint. I approached a few companies to help me produce this series — and I’m delighted to thank Andy, Jane and the team at HulloMail for agreeing to help cover the production costs for the series. Thank you HulloMail.

If you haven’t tried out the service, by the way, do check it out — free — at www.hullomail.com.

Right then, standby for the first video interview. If you’ve any questions, drop me a note: ewan@mobileindustryreview.com.

CoPilot Live HD for iPad 3G models has gone live. It’s only available in America and it’s designed *specifically* for the iPad 3G model (as you’ll want to get data live from the CoPilot servers as you navigate). All street maps are stored on the device though.

The HD version makes proper, PROPER use of the massive iPad screen real estate with the rather nice split screen driving mode (as illustrated above). That offers uncluttered 3D/2D maps along with clear turn instructions. And you can have the experience in portrait or landscape mode.

You will need some kind of stand or holder though. I haven’t seen many of them around yet.

Here’s a little more from the CoPilot release:

Initially launched in North America to coincide with the U.S. release of GPS-enabled iPad 3G models, detailed street-level maps are stored directly on the iPad. Customers do not need to download maps for each trip or worry about being left stranded without maps in mobile dead spots. Apps for additional regions will be launched as the iPad 3G becomes available worldwide in coming months.
More than just turn-by-turn navigation, CoPilot Live HDs powerful offline trip planning and route preview features allow travellers to plan door-to-door itineraries on their iPad before they hit the road. Users can enter multiple stops for a single journey and optimise to calculate the most efficient route. Advanced features include integral access to local search, real-time weather information, and the ability to create customised routing profiles that best suit personal preferences.

CoPilot Live HD provides an absolutely sensational GPS navigation and planning experience on iPad 3G, said Michael Kornhauser, Managing Director at ALK Technologies. Developing for iPad was a natural step following the tremendous popularity of our CoPilot Live iPhone app. Its a really fantastic platform for navigation that allows us to fully exploit the many years of expertise we have gained from supporting tablet computers with our CoPilot Live Laptop products.

CoPilot Live HD North America has been submitted to the appstore for approval, and is expected to be available to buy for iPad 3G in early May. Pricing will be the same as for the CoPilot Live iPhone app with no ongoing fees or subscriptions.

And if you’d like to admire some more screenshots, check out the CoPilot HD Flickr Gallery.