If a car suddenly slows ahead of you, the app will detect the approaching vehicle and warn you. It can also detect other cars in neighboring lanes, and can tell when you change lanes. The app can be configured to provide any combination of visual, audio and vocal alerts, and the color of the HUD is interchangeable as well.

It seems that a lot of the application's accuracy depends on your ability to mount it and calibrate it correctly before driving. The app requires the device be level, and asks for information regarding the height of the camera and the width of the car. If you happen to have an extra iPhone 3GS lying around, this could be a great use for it so you don't have to remount your phone each time you go for a drive.

Is this a super cool example of augmented reality? Yes. Will people actually use it? Probably not. At least not with their phones. We do too much on our phones to dedicate the entire device to one function while in our cars.

I have no idea why Garmin, TomTom, Magellan and all the other in-car GPS makers haven't jumped all over augmented reality. Or maybe they have and we just don't know yet. Future generations of GPS units should have cameras on them that capture a view of the road and provide directions and warnings from a dedicated device. People would actually use that because it wouldn't mean awkwardly mounting their phones and anything beats those ugly 2D maps that we deal with today.

For now, however, imaGinyze's app serves as a reminder of the powerful capabilities of the magical pocket computers we all carry around each day.

Note: This story was embargoed until 10am Pacific, but as usual, the app still hasn't gone live in the store. This is becoming standard procedure these days and Apple is doing a disservice to both the developers and the press by not giving developers a clearer idea about when a new application will actually appear in the store.

Update (5:30pm): the app is now available in the App Store.

Earlier this year, 12seconds announced tighter integration with Twitter and this app clearly shows this. Once you have uploaded your video, a message will be posted to your Twitter feed.

One nice aspect of the app is that it is extremely easy to use. You just tilt the iPhone sideways and the recorder automatically opens. After recording a video, you can play it, retake it, or delete it.

In a future update, 12seconds also plans to integrate Facebook Connect. This will give users the ability to share video on both Twitter and Facebook. The company also plans to release a few more iPhone 3GS apps in the near future.

A number of other Twitter video services like TwitVid already offer iPhone apps (iTunes link). 12seconds, however, is one of the largest players in this space - especially now that Seesmic has decided to shift its focus away from its video service.

Now it seems Hotz is at it again. Although this time around he's not first, he is claiming that his new software, "purplesn0w," is a better unlocking tool for the iPhone 3GS than what the Dev Team has put out.

Unlocking vs Jailbreaking

In case you're unfamiliar, jailbreaking and unlocking are two entirely different things. Jailbreaking is simply a type of hack that lets you install unapproved third-party applications on your iPhone or iPod Touch from searchable repositories provided by apps like Cydia and Icy. Unlocking, on the other hand, is a hack that lets you use your iPhone on another cellular network. Here in the U.S., that means you can use the iPhone on T-Mobile instead of AT&T. You have to first jailbreak your phone before you can unlock it, but you don't have to unlock a phone in order to jailbreak it.

How to Unlock Your iPhone 3GS in 4 Steps

In order to unlock your iPhone 3GS to work on another carrier's network, you have to first jailbreak your phone. The instructions below assume you have already done so. Because jailbreaking is a more involved process, we won't document it in this post. (Note: you can read our online guide "how to jailbreak your iPhone to OS 3.0" to jailbreak your phone).

In this case you'll want to use the software "purplera1n" to perform the jailbreak before using purplesn0w.

As always, it's a good idea to have a current iPhone backup in place in case something goes horribly, horribly wrong and you have to restore your device to factory settings.

Also note that at the present time, your phone will have to already be activated in order for this unlock to work. However, it sounds like a "hacktivation" is in the works -meaning that, in the future, you won't need to officially activate your phone with AT&T (or your country's default carrier) first.

1. Disable 3G: Go into "Settings," "General," "Network," and then tap the slider that reads "Enable 3G" to set it to the OFF position. Exit back to the main screen when finished.
2. Add the Geohot Repository to Cydia: Again, since you've already jailbroken your phone, you should have the Cydia app on your iPhone's screen. Launch the app and select "Manage" from the set of buttons at the bottom of the screen. Tap "Sources," "Edit," then "Add." Type in apt.geohot.com and hit "Add Source" when done. Tap the "done" button and exit out of the "Manage" section.
3. Install Purplesn0w: Do a search for "Purplesn0w" using Cydia's search utility. (Actually, since Cydia updates results as you type, you really only need to enter the first few letters.) You're looking for the package com.geohot.purplesn0w. Once you've found that, tap it to see the details. Next, tap the "Install" button and then the "Confirm" button just as if you were installing any other Cydia app. Wait while it installs and watch for the success message output in Cydia. Tap "Return to Cydia" when it's finished installing and then exit from the Cydia app entirely.
4. Reboot Your iPhone: Press the power button (at the top of the device) until you see the message "slide to power off" appear. Use the slider to power off your device then turn it back on. Once rebooted, your iPhone 3GS will be unlocked.

Note: You can follow the same steps as above to install the ultrasn0w unlock as well, if that's your preference. The only difference is that the repository to add to Cydia is http://repo666.ultrasn0w.com and, obviously, you'll be looking for the ultrasn0w app to install.

According to a post on i.document, the technical details about TwittARound are as follows:

"The whole application was developed in Webkit (UIWebView/Safari Mobile). A native Cocoa wrapper delegates location, compass and accelerometer to Javascript in the UIWebView. The 3D scene is based on Safari Mobiles brilliant 3D CSS transforms. The AJAX part is done with jQuery."

When using TwittARound, the avatars of nearby Twitter users float through the top of the screen where the live video feed is displayed. Tap on any of the avatars to see their Twitter feed which will show up at the bottom. It's a simple but elegant way of interacting with an augmented reality.

Apple Doesn't Permit AU Apps

Unfortunately, TwittARound and all other augmented reality apps in development, won't ever make it to the iTunes App Store because they're built using non-public APIs. Officially, Apple's iPhone SDK does not offer access to any APIs for manipulating live video, forcing developers to use the available but unsupported ones instead. That's a shame because as you can see, there are a lot of unique concepts out there for implementing Augmented Reality on the iPhone.

In fact, this is one important area of development where Google's Android OS has the edge. Already, we've seen new AU Android apps like Layar come about - an app which could very well represent the future of augmented reality.

Even on the Nokia platform, AU is surging ahead. Earlier this year, for example, the creator of the "Heroes" TV show announced his upcoming AU app called "TEVA" which will use Nokia's video recording features in a new ARG mobile game.

Sadly, unless something changes at Apple, the AU developer community will simply move on to other platforms, leaving iPhone users behind. However, there's still hope. According to some hearsay out there, Apple is interested in enabling these types of apps. In other words, it could be a question of "when" and not "if." We only hope that they do so sooner than later.

Good for Mobile Web Developers

Of course, these are benchmarks and don't necessarily correlate directly into a superior user experience, but it is good to see that even iPhone 3G users will see significant speed gains from the 3.0 release. This should give mobile developers quite a boost, as they can now develop and run more complex, cross-platform compatible web apps that won't be hindered by the mobile browser's performance, though the Android-powered G1 is still pretty slow according to Medialets and the Palm Pre sees the same performance as a 3G with the 3.0 OS.

For now, however, there are also still a few million iPhone 3G users who haven't updated their phones' operating system yet...

What Are People Talking About?

Generally people are happy with the overall use of the handset. The new oleophobic screen is brighter and displays warmer, richer colors than previous iPhones. Most people report that the shinier screen makes fingerprint marks more easily removable, while others are unimpressed.

Overwhelmingly, people are talking about the new iPhone's lightning fast speed, especially when opening and closing applications and browsing the net. Reportedly, "the overall system seems to be a lot faster and smoother than the iPhone 3G released a year ago."

One of the most anticipated new features is the iPhone's new video recording capability:

"Users of the new Apple phone are simply blown away by the excellent quality of the video recording; some people even go as far as to say it is the best they have seen in a mobile phone until now. Voice control works almost flawlessly as well, spot on most of the time. Google Maps and Digital Compass also work very well together."

The iPhone's 3mp camera with autofocus and macro features are also a big hit.

Drawbacks and Glitches

So far some consumers are disappointed that Apple didn't make the iPhone more affordable, especially in the UK. It was to be expected that a new iPhone model with more features would cost more, so this is no shock. Some consumers have found other issues that they are not happy about:

"The 3mp camera with no flash and no front camera for video recording are pretty disappointing. But my biggest beef is no memory card slot so apple can gouge you for the 32GB iphone and no mini-usb for charging etc. means my next phone will be an android. Sorry Apple, not good enough."

Others find that the digital compass does not work well when driving in a car and lots of people have complained about a weak Wi-Fi signal. One Mac Rumors commenter says:

"Really, really terrific speed... The ONLY issue I'm having is my Wifi signal seems to have weakened a lot. My wifi router is in the next room (literally 10 feet away, through one wall) and I have 1 bar on the 3G S and 5 full bars on the 3G."

another commenter adds:

"Beware! WiFi reception on this phone seems to be pretty bad compared to the 3G. I have read complaints earlier in this thread, and I can see it for myself as well."

One Twitter user even took his iPhone back to the store because he thought it was broken. @WheezingGeek says Apple gladly replaced it but the new one was not any better.

Some others have noticed a "high-pitched sound right after sending an SMS or during video recordings...however this high frequency noise is hardly noticeable for most people. In any case, if there is in fact a problem, it is expected to be fixed in a future software update".

There are some reported service issues in the US when customers try to activate their new iPhones and in Italy some people have remarked that the voice control feature does not work very well for them.

Conclusion

The increased speed, amazing video recording features and new 3.0 software might be enough for some people to finally pull the trigger on a new iPhone purchase. There are still detractors though, who think Apple is not really innovating, just trying to compete with other devices that already have these features. It's obvious that Apple will remain a solid contender in this market and releasing the new 3GS is a big step in the right direction. Let us know what you think.