Spicy iPhone

What’s better than an iPhone as a holiday gift? All the shiny things that go with it. Make someone’s holiday dreams come true with one of these suggestions.

The problem with Bluetooth headsets is that they’re either too big or sound terrible. Not MoGo Talk–it’s the world’s first integrated wireless headset for the iPhone 3GS or iPhone 3G. The headset folds flat and snaps in and out of its protective case which fits seamlessly on the back of an iPhone. An Apple Store exclusive, it’s available both online and at retail locations.

Click through for a bunch more.

iLuv gives you a lot for $150–two alarms, the ability to charge two iPhones (or one iPhone and an iPod or two iPods) and localized weather warnings that scroll right on the display. Now you’ll know when your favorite song comes on and when snow is on the way. Oh, and it sounds pretty good too. Available at many online retailers.

The little Waterfield company in San Francisco delivers big when it comes to the iPhone. Take the Smart Case. It’s less than one-inch thin and comes with a low-profile pocket that can hold your ear buds or credit cards. There are three varieties: one that easily slips into your jeans pocket, another has flaps that flip over your shoulder strap, and the other clips onto your belt.

If I can give you one piece of advice, it’s this: Never skimp on headphones. You’ll need to pay a little more to get that rich quality sound you want. The Bose Mobile In-ear headset sounds like you paid hundreds of dollars more than its price. And you can switch seamlessly between your music or podcasts and your phone calls.

PowerJolt does one thing and does it well: It lets you charge your iPhone in the car. It features a detachable USB to 30-pin cable for iPod and iPhone and has an amber/green charging status light. Never get stranded without juice again.

The great thing about iTunes gift cards is their versatility. You can buy songs, albums, audiobooks, apps, TV shows, movies–whatever you want and in any combination. It’s like handing someone you love a blank slate to draw on however he or she sees fit.

Know someone who globetrots with an iPhone? Buy them this kit. Designed to work with iPod, iPhone, Apple MagSafe Power Adapters, Portable Power Adapters, and AirPort Express, it includes a USB power adapter, a USB cable, and a set of six AC plugs with prongs that fit electrical outlets around the world. 

They’ll play for months. It’s everything you love about Rock Band on the iPhone. It looks great, sounds great and it’s just fun. Through the in-app purchasing system, you can add new music from right inside the app. Play solo or with two to four people directly over Bluetooth. Try doing that in the garage.

One of the coolest stands I’ve ever seen for an iPhone, Xtand reminds me of the look of an Apple LCD display. It holds the iPhone 3G and 3GS vertically or horizontally and rotates 360 degrees. Plus it has cable management and non-slip feet. Perfect for the office, where there are plenty of co-workers around to drool and stare.

$15-$25 at dotsgloves.com

When it gets cold and you’ve got to wear gloves, you lose precious iPhone time. But you won’t be able to activate the touchscreen with most regular gloves. Available in three varieties, Dot gloves let you do that. You have to try them to believe them. Don’t settle for those gloves with the holes at the top of your fingers–you can be warm and connected at the same time.

$99.95 at mophie.com 

Hello, extra battery! Although it will make your iPhone thicker to hold, the benefit outweighs the bulk–Mophie’s Juice Pack is designed to more than double the charge on your iPhone 3G or 3GS. Use it as a case all the time or just when your iPhone needs an extra boost. Plus, The integrated LED indicator tells you exactly how much juice is left in your pack.

Apple has posted details on a new full-time position at its Cupertino headquarters for an iPhone Software Engineer who will join its newly created Maps team. On the job description web page, Apple says it wants to “…take Maps to the next level,” and “…rethink how users use Maps and change the way people find things.”

The current Mapping technology in the iPhone relies heavily on Google Maps, but some tech-pundits think that’s a relationship Apple is keen to see come to an end. After all, Apple and Google aren’t exactly on great terms any more. In fact, Apple’s relationship with former best-buddy Google has been demonstrably deteriorating over the last 12 months. So, on the surface at least, it seems Apple is distancing itself further from the search giant both with the creation of its own in-house Mapping team and, back in October, the acquisition of PlaceBase, a rival mapping service to Google Maps.

A little more from the job description highlights how Apple wants to implement creative new functionality in Maps as well as its desire to include its partners in the process.

The iPhone has revolutionized the mobile industry and has changed people’s lives and we want to continue to do so. We want to take Maps to the next level, rethink how users use Maps and change the way people find things. We want to do this in a seamless, highly interactive and enjoyable way. We’ve only just started.

As an engineer on the Maps team, your responsibilities will range from implementing low-level client/server code to implementing high-level user interfaces. You’ll be responsible for implementing new and innovative features, fixing problems and enhancing the performance of Maps. You will work closely with the other engineers on the Maps team, other iPhone and iPod touch teams as well our partners in other companies.

So how might PlaceBase and a new in-house Maps team change how users use Maps on the iPhone?

PlaceBase offers far richer aggregation and visualization of geo-specific datasets than is currently available on Google Maps. For example, imagine you’re planning on buying a house and have a property already in mind. Like Google Maps, PlaceBase can show you the usual aerial views you’re accustomed to seeing but can also display other valuable data, too, such as local crime reports over the last five years, or the demographic distribution of the neighbourhood, or perhaps the latest performance scores of local schools. What’s more, the datasets can be customized.

Some have interpreted the PlaceBase acquisition — and this job posting — as evidence that Apple is taking definitive steps to distance itself from Google. It sounds plausible; Google’s Android OS for mobile phones definitely treads on Apple’s toes, and that whole Voicegate fiasco isn’t over yet. Google’s forays into web browsers and operating systems doesn’t exactly foster amity between the two companies, either.

I suspect Apple wants to bring PlaceBase data visualisation to its already-exemplary Maps application. Yes, it uses Google Maps, but it works. And as it says in the job posting, Apple thinks it’s “…the best mapping program on any mobile platform.” If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?

Let’s return to the example from above; imagine you’ve viewed the property but you’re not impressed. Back in the car your real estate agent tells you he has another place in mind he thinks you’ll like. So you reach for your iPhone and fire-up Maps. You do a quick search on the new address and, using a filter you customized earlier, you see the neighbourhood overlaid with color-coded blobs indicating crime rates in that area. You switch to another filter; now you’re looking at the average home-insurance costs for the area, and they’re all way too orange and red for your liking.

There’s no reason this sort of Map “filtering” can’t be monetized, either. The Maps application itself could ship with some basic “fun” filters but offer specialized plug-ins via the iTunes store. Third-party developers would jump at the chance to exploit rich data visualization by plugging-in to a native API, freeing them from the expense and difficulty of building similar functionality from scratch.

While this job posting is specifically for an iPhone developer, there’s no reason to suspect the lessons learned here in the coming months won’t influence other geo-aware software from Apple; iPhoto and iMovie spring to mind, but OS X itself also exploits some (basic) geo-awareness when selecting the appropriate time zone in the Date & Time preference panel.

As social networking services get more geo-savvy (Twitter, Brightkite and FourSquare are obvious examples, but Facebook can’t be far behind) and as mobile devices and laptops start packing-in GPS chips as-standard, it makes sense for Apple to offer a world-class geo-aware range of products that exploit our desire to not only locate ourselves but also discover meaningful, customizable data about our surroundings. That, to me, is the most likely “next level” of Map usage Apple is talking about.