ReadWriteWeb

Feeling a bit under the weather? Soon you'll be able to cough into your mobile phone for an instant diagnosis. A research firm called STAR Analytical Services is working to develop software that can analyze the sound of a cough and identify it as either associated with a common cold, the flu, or something worse - like pneumonia or another serious respiratory disease. Just as doctors have been doing for years, the software will "listen" to the wetness or dryness of a cough and determine whether all you need is a lozenge or if you need to come in for a doctor's visit instead.

Shazam, the music discovery iPhone application which gained widespread adoption thanks to its appearance in an iPhone TV commercial, is now getting a ton of new features thanks to the launch of a premium application called Shazam Encore. This new application adds music recommendations, trend charts, music searches and more to its core set of features already made available in the free version of Shazam.

Does this mean Shazam is about to give Pandora and the like a run for their money?

This article has been updated. A more current list of tools can be found here: "30+ Tools for Building Mobile Apps." Please visit that page instead!

These days, everyone wants to build their own iPhone applications, but not everyone knows how write the code necessary in order to create them. Fortunately, there are now a number of tools that allow non-developers the ability to create their own iPhone apps without knowing programming or scripting. Some are general-purpose app builders designed for small businesses while other target specific needs, like apps for musicians or for eBook authors. Still others let developers familiar with simpler programming languages like HTML write apps using the code they know and then will transform that code into an iPhone application which can be submitted to the iTunes Store.

Below we've listed 13 different tools that let you create your own iPhone applications, none of which require knowledge of Objective C, the programming language used to build apps for the iPhone OS .

Originally revealed at this spring's DEMO 09 conference, the Asurion Mobile address book stood out as one of the more memorable mobile products. Still called simply "AddressBook," this social media-infused contacts application is designed exclusively for Android handsets. From within the mobile application, you not only see the profile updates and details from your friends on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and Amazon, you can also interact with some of the networks themselves, posting to walls, leaving comments, etc. However, if you would rather contact your friends through more traditional means, the app lets you phone them using its built-in dialer or you can text them via SMS.

The App Store could be your goldmine or simply another dead end. Or the long tail could end up being where your mobile dev shop slowly turns a corner into profitability. But how do developers know where to turn for the fine-tuning that transforms sparse user interest into a robust business?

Apprupt is a performance analytics shop focusing specifically on iPhone apps. They track the click-thrus and conversion rates for online and mobile links to iPhone applications, and they claim to help developers find the sweet spot where highly focused user targeting meets pure monetization. But how does the end-of-the-rainbow promise hold up?

Yesterday we wrote about Mary Meeker's annual overview of Internet trends at the Web 2.0 Summit. In this post we do a deeper dive into the Web themes that Meeker explored. In particular we'll analyze mobile social networking, compare 2009 to previous years and look at the impact of Apple and Facebook on current trends. You can also skip to the conclusion for the main points.

Meeker's presentation noted that financial markets have rebounded and that the technology sector is now "relatively impressive." Let's start by explaining how 2009 is different to previous years.

Loopt, makers of a popular mobile social networking application of the same name, is introducing a new iPhone application today called Loopt Mix. Where their original app focuses on connecting you with your friends while you're out and about, Loopt Mix is more about introducing you to "the people you wish you knew." In other words, "people" like that attractive person giving you eye from the other end of the bar.

New from Sweb Apps, the company whose online service lets anyone create their own iPhone application - no coding required - is Sweb Apps 2.0, the next generation of the company's app builder product. Among a handful of new features, including a real-time WYSIWYG-style landing page builder and YouTube integration, is the ability to create an iPhone-based store where you can sell inventory within your app and take payments via PayPal.

Quite a bit ahead of schedule, Wolfram Alpha's iPhone app appeared in the iTunes App Store today. The app, which costs $49.99, gives users full access to Wolfram Alpha's capabilities and greatly improves on the speed and ergonomics of Wolfram Alpha's mobile site. The company is targeting this app at students and professionals and marketing it as a replacement for stand-alone graphing calculators, which is clearly reflected in the price.