The user opens the app, then places the iPhone on the bed. The Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock then monitors your movement and judges your current “sleep cycle”.

The company suggests users move from “light sleep” to “deep sleep” during the night, and people are often woken up during the inappropriate cycle. The accelerometer in the iPhone detects when your movement stops and wakes you up during the lightest sleep phase.

“This isn’t really something new. These so called bio-alarm clocks have been around for years and work very well, but they usually come with a hefty $200 price tag. I realized that the iPhone has all the components needed, and decided to make an alarm clock that works exactly the same, but sell it for a dollar or two instead,” developer Maciek Drejak said in a statement.

The app costs just $1.19 on the Australian App Store.

Do you ever have an idea you wish you could write down, but forget it straight away? A new iPhone app allows users to capture that random thought, or brilliant business plan, without forgetting. The Momento app allows users to write random notes and thoughts, complete with added pictures, in a nicely designed user interface. But the app comes with a variety of features which make it worth the price. Users can import feeds from social networking services like Twitter and Facebook, while pictures can be imported from Flickr. To create a new note, users just tap a date on the calendar, which also keeps track of which entries have been made at different times. The app costs $3.99, but the simple and sleek user interface makes it worth the cost.

Australian firms have developed some of the world’s best mobile applications. Aussies have embraced the iPhone and local developers have produced a wide range of useful, entertaining and popular apps.

Here are six locally developed applications making waves in their respective fields.

Documents 2
Price: $4.99
Developer: SavySoda, Melbourne

One of the major frustrations for many iPhone users is the relative difficulty and fiddliness of transferring, storing and viewing office documents on a supposedly smart phone.

Documents 2 from Melbourne-based developer SavySoda allows you to store, view and edit common formats such as Excel spreadsheets and Word documents.

It also allows you to use the iPhone as a mobile hard drive and transfer documents by Wi-Fi or directly to your Google Docs storage. You can use it to view PowerPoint presentations, images, Adobe PDF documents and audio files.

Flight Control
Price: $1.19
Developer: Firemint, Melbourne

Melbourne-based Firemint is Australia’s greatest commercial success when it comes to iPhone apps.

Developed on a shoestring by Firemint CEO Rob Murray, the game concept is simple enough: just use your finger to trace the flight path of incoming aircraft towards a number of runways.

But simple gameplay plus increasing complexity tends to equal insanely addictive, and that’s what took Flight Control to more than 1.5 million paid downloads in around six months. It reached the number-one paid app in Australia and 19 other countries.

Firemint has since developed a new game, Real Racing, and has another called Mega Monsters in the wings.

IceTV
Price: App is free; guide costs $13/month or $99/year
Developer: IceTV, Sydney

Now is probably not the time to wonder why Australia’s TV networks so jealously guard their program guides that it falls to third-party companies to provide an electronic version.

The people at IceTV probably aren’t complaining since they’ve made a good living selling subscriptions to their comprehensive online electronic program guide.

The iPhone version provides a customisable and keyword searchable program guide and allows you to remotely program your PVR to record your favourite shows.

Lingopal
Price: $12.99 for all 44 languages, $1.19 for an individual language.
Developers: Richard Johnson and Lance Wiggs

Developers Richard Johnson and Lance Wiggs decided to come up with the ultimate phrasebook for travelling, shopping, finding your way around and – of course – flirting, with print and audio phrases in 44 languages.

Should you ever find yourself unexpectedly in a foreign country (and how often does that happen!), rest assured you can find somewhere to eat or sleep, stay out of trouble and make friends with a flick of your finger.

While getting the app off the ground, Johnson and Wiggs worked with a who’s who of Australia’s mobile industry including web business gurus Pollenizer and mobile development powerhouse MoGeneration.

Quota
Price: $1.19
Developer: Kevin Bruton, South Fremantle.

This app allows you to monitor your usage on multiple mobile phone and internet access accounts from a wide variety of providers.

Developer Kevin Bruton has worked out the ins and outs of extracting usage information from phone company and ISP systems – you just need to give it your username and password for each account.

You can keep track of everything from a handy summary page and drill down to the account details. Bruton has also developed iHome, a home loan and property analyser handy for anyone in the property market.

Remember the Milk
Price: $25 a year for a pro account
Developers: Emily Boyd and Omar Kilani, Sydney

OK everyone, hands up if you get excited at the idea of task management. No, I didn’t think so.

But when your career, business or personal life depends on keeping abreast of dozens of conflicting priorities, at least you can make it a bit easier.

Remember the Milk is an online tool for tracking, tagging, locating and managing tasks.

Started by Sydneysiders and coffee addicts Emily Boyd and Omar Kilani, Remember the Milk has evolved into a powerful framework that you can access with your iPhone, online or even with (ugh) other devices such as Android and BlackBerry smartphones.

Apple announced on Monday that more than two billion applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch have been downloaded from its App Store, just five months after hitting the one-billion download mark.

The Cupertino, California-based company also said that its App Store, the world’s largest, boasts more than 85,000 free and paid software programs in 20 categories.

Apple announced on April 24 that it had passed the one-billion download mark and chief executive Steve Jobs said the pace was accelerating.

“The rate of App Store downloads continues to accelerate with users downloading a staggering two billion apps in just over a year, including more than half a billion apps this quarter alone,” Jobs said in a statement.

Apple said more than 50 million iPhone and iPod Touch devices have been sold in 77 countries.

The success of Apple’s App Store, opened in July 2008, has prompted rivals Research in Motion, maker of the Blackberry, Google and others to open their own online application stores.

The applications for the iPhone have been created by independent developers, but Apple has strict control over which ones are featured in the App Store.

Research In Motion (RIM) ran the idea years ago, which is why the BlackBerry smartphone is sopopular.

“Google Apps now offers a complete mobile sync solution for businesses,” said Google product management director, Raju Gulabani.

“With the over-the-air, always-on push connections, emails and changes to calendar events and contacts are reflected very quickly on their phones,” he added.

However, according to reports, not all iPhone users will be able to access the service.

Given that Google Sync runs on Microsoft’s Exchange ActiveSync and the iPhone can only manage a single ActiveSync account at a time, users that are already using the platform to receive updates from another email account will not be able to sync with Google Apps as well.

What kind of monthly data allowance do smartphone and iPhone users need?

I thing that most light users can get away with 200MB of data per month on a smartphone. This is assuming they do the manage the bulk of their data needs on a computer at home or work and only use their phone to fill in the gaps. This would include checking your email a few times a day via IMAP, just downloading the most recent email headers to see if there’s anything urgent. It wouldn’t include having all your email pushed to you.

A light user might check Google Maps every day or two to look up driving directions, plus use do a little web browsing. This may also include using social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Doesn’t include downloading music or video, or running VoIP over mobile broadband, while they’re sitting on the train.

If you are looking at what you would use on a netbook then a minimum of 1GB is required. You will do more but so will your PC (in terms of receiving updates). It also depends on how you use your email and how much of it is being downloaded onto your netbook. If you are looking to download music or even movies, then you will need to aim for 2+GB minimum. A movie is about 1GB on its own.

If you spend your days on the road, or spend time online whilst traveling to work, your data requirements will obviously be closer to 2 – 3 GB. Another way of managing some of these data requirements is to the downloading at home from your fixed line connection and just do the browsing and reading whilst mobile. Could save you a bit, atleast until mobile data rates drop (maybe a year or so).

1. Make sure you are on Vodafone Traveller plan (you only need Vodafone World for 3 additional countries). Calls are $2.00 then normal rate. Pick up a call for $1. SMS is 75c international.   Vodafone link for Postpay don’t blame me if it gets changed. Seems that preferred supplier for Aussie Vodafone in Singapore is M1 or MobileOne but I change mine to Singtel (see later).  Details on 3 mobile service providers in Singapore from Vodafone is here. Mostly you lose prepaid international roaming and 3G video calling.
2. Voicemail – set up your voicemail in Australian. Only M1 (Mobile One) lets you use the short codes (preprogrammed keys) to access to vmail so if you swap to Singtel (see below) bear that in mind.
   121 for Voicemail (or +61 414 121 121)
   If you would like to use your voicemail overseas, just call us on 1555^ to activate it. Once you have done this, it’s automatically ready to use, every time you travel.
3. Service provider defaults to SGP-M1-GSM. I went into my iPhone settings and changed it to SingTel. Then I got an SMS from SingTel offering me free services for using their network. Much better.  Dial *777 on your phone – it seems to hang up  - then wait. You get a a SMS with a list of free services.
4. FREE WIFI *186 is free wifi, *624 is free hotspots *188 flight info service *6277 -map and geoservices. Remember you actually CALL the number, then it SMS’s you back the details. If M1 offers free wifi and whatnot, they should SMS a welcome, no?
5. SETTINGS If you go for free wifi – and why not? – SSID is Wireless@SG (look in your wifi service list in Settings). User ID is your +61mobilenumber@singtel and Password is usually 6 numerals. Service Provider is Singtel. Valid to 12am each day (send an sms each day). Can be used for free on iCell and Qmax networks. So make sure you opt for Singtel or those networks in iphone wifi settings.

How to Jailbreak the iPhone 3GS

1. Download redsn0w 0.8 (a more powerful QuickPwn) for Mac here or Windows here and extract the install file “redsn0w” to a folder.
2. Download the 3.0 firmware for the iPhone 3GS here.
3. Put the downloads from Steps 1 and 2 into a single folder together.
4. Open iTunes and plug your iPhone 3GS in via the USB. Backup your iPhone 3GS if iTunes allows you to. (If you are already running 3.0, go to Step 6).
5. When iTunes recognizes the iPhone 3GS, click “Check for Updates” in iTunes. This will update your iPhone 3GS with the 3.0 firmware.
6. Note: If firmware 3.1 has been released, skip step 5. Instead, you must do a Restore to 3.0 using the firmware from step 2. On a PC, hold Shift on the keyboard or on a Mac, hold Option on the keyboard, and click “Restore” in iTunes. A window will open. Locate and select the downloaded 3.0 firmware from step 2. After the update is complete, iTunes will prompt you to Set up a New Device or Restore from Back Up from an existing backup (the backup from step 4). Choose which ever method you want and let iTunes process.
7. After the processing is complete, keep the iPhone 3GS plugged in via USB. Eject the iPhone 3GS from within iTunes and close iTunes. Turn the iPhone 3GS off and then turn the iPhone 3GS back on.
8. Open the redsn0w install file and click “Browse”. A window will open. Locate the downloaded 3.0 firmware from Step 2.
9. Once the firmware is verified, click Next. On the next screen, put a check mark beside Cydia and Icy and then click Next.
10. Follow the on-screen instructions EXACTLY.
11. Redsn0w will guide you on how to get your iPhone 3GS into Recovery Mode. Recovery mode can be hard to do, so make sure you follow the steps. If the iPhone 3GS does not get into Recovery Mode, just quit redsn0w and you will have to try again starting from step 7.
12. After the processing is complete (about 5 – 6 minutes), your iPhone 3GS will be jailbroken. Disconnect the USB cable from the iPhone 3GS. Turn the iPhone 3GS off and then turn the iPhone 3GS back on.

How to Unlock the iPhone 3GS

1. Run the Cydia app on your iPhone 3GS running 3.0 firmware and apply all of the prompted updates.
2. Go back into Cydia, tap Search and type in mobilesubstrate. Ensure you are running the latest version. If not, tap Install and then Confirm.
3. Go back into Cydia, tap Manage, Sources, Edit, and Add the repo repo666.ultrasn0w.com.
4. Select the newly added Repo in the Sources Menu screen and select ‘ultrasn0w’. Then tap Install and then Confirm. After the install, tap Return to Cydia and then push the iPhone Home Button.
5. Turn the iPhone 3GS off and then turn the iPhone 3GS back on.