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pimg src=”http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2008/10/sonos-controller.png” width=”176″ height=”200″ align=”right” hspace=”4″ vspace=”2″ align=”right” /The multi-room music system from Sonos has added iPhone support with the new a href=”http://www.sonos.com/whattobuy/controllers/iphone/default.aspx?rdr=trueLangType=1033″Sonos Controller/a, available as a free download from the a href=”http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=293523031mt=8″App Store/a. The app looks great, and it’s a great move by Sonos, but if you don’t have $1000+ to spend on a Sonos system, we’ve already shown you how to a href=”http://lifehacker.com/400235/turn-your-iphone-or-ipod-touch-into-a-multi+room-wireless-music-remote”turn your iPhone into a multi-room wireless music remote/a on the cheap./p br style=”clear: both;”/
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The founders of Tap Tap Tap, a developer of iPhone applications, have parted ways, and are putting their most successful app, Where To, up for sale. John Casasanta says he and Sophia Teuschler delayed the announcement for weeks because they had difficulty coming to terms for the split. Commentards are already lauding the pair’s transparency, but the move doesn’t speak well for their business sense. If you were selling a home, would you tell people at an open house that the sellers were divorcing? Just what a buyer wants: a negotiation with two parties who can’t agree on anything themselves.

The MLB’s must-buy At Bat iPhone app for baseball fanatics, which delivers live game info, video, more stats than you can swing a stick and other goodness, is currently on sale for $2.99, two bucks off of its usual $5 pricetag. But it’s more of a bait-and-switch than a steal, because the app will expire at the end of the season, so you’ll have to re-buy it at the start of the 2009 season. Not too surprising coming from the MLB, who’s notoriously ticky about their content. At Bat is still a great app, but buyer definitley beware. [TUAW]

The Obama ‘08 iPhone app is, almost surprisingly, not a cheap sticker masquerading as an application. No, it’s actually a glimpse of the potential of grassroots politics and gadgets, distilled in a slick, blue-stained little app that couldn’t possibly have come out of the McCain campaign (no offense guys). It leverages pretty much every aspect of the iPhone.

It sorts your contacts by battleground states and turns them into a checklist, making it easy, and almost obligating, to harass your loved ones to vote O. (Worth noting for tinfoil types: It does keep track of how many people you call, but it’s totally anonymous.) It finds local events and Obama news using GPS, constantly updated. And it delivers more video highlights and newsreels than you’ll be able to stand (though videos were kinda crashy for me). There is some hucksterism, yes, like a dedicated button to call and make a donation—it makes it easier than ever, which is part of the power here. Also it’s a campaign app, what do you expect?

This is something like what politicking at the grassroots level will look like by the next election—local and immediate, but definitely national in scope. It makes you feel like a part of the campaign. Download it if you’re an Obamaniac to have a constant flood of hope in your pocket, or if you’re a McCainite, to see what your candidate’s campaign should be doing. It’s free, so the only excuse is your gag reflex. [iTunes via Launch Pad]

Hey social networking fans, Facebook 2.0 has been released and is now up for download at the iTunes app store. With the newest version, you can get notifications, friend requests full news feeds, news feed comments, your entire inbox, and photo capabilities. Now you can check up on how all your Finance major friends are doing from on the road. Status Update: Not very well. [iPhone Savior]

Tapulous—the creators of that Perfect Drug of an appl, Tap Tap Revenge—is partnering up with Nine Inch Nails to put over a dozen of the band’s songs in the game. The alliance will be one of the first to bring licensed content to iPhone apps and, depending on how successful it is, could mark a surge of similar musician/application deals. Considering how addictive the game (with a Capital G) is, this NIN-bundle could be the thing that’ll suck you Into The Tap Tap Revenge Void. [TechCrunch]

We first saw the Force Unleashed iPhone game back at E3, and since then not a whole lot has changed. You still control Darth Vader’s apprentice by drawing shapes on the screen to correspond with force powers or actions, which is quite suitable for the iPhone, but not as satisfying as it would be to actually draw lightsaber strikes or even swing around the phone like an idiot. Nevertheless, it’s really polished and has luscious 2D backgrounds that your PS1/Dreamcast-era guy runs across. Worth $9.99 if you’re a fan of Star Wars, lightsabers, or drawing shapes with your finger. [iTunes]

This week marked the start of more interesting times for mobile apps. You may have heard, even, that Android is here—on T-Mobile’s G1. Perhaps it wasn’t a coincidence that it was a relatively quiet week in the App Store, as devs watch a new challenger take the stage (and power on their iPhone lightsabers). But as always, gems abound.

I’m really excited for the Android Market. It has a lot of potential to revolutionize the way apps work with phones. We’ll be diving into this in-depth early next week, so keep a watch out. For now, on with the competition:

Lightsaber Unleashed: It was here, it was gone, then it was back again (briefly), and now it’s actually here for good. What was first one man’s cheesy lightsaber app has now become an official part of the Lucas juggernaut—now featuring heavy branding for the Force Unleashed! Whoo! As you can see it’s fun to swing around. Free.

Pool Sharks Lite: Shooting up to the top of the free apps most popular list was Pool Shark Lite - a free 3D pool game. Because you can’t always be in a bar.

TokyoFlash Watch: Publicize your geeky timekeeping tendencies a little more discreetly with this clock replacement that tells time in the various abstract ways made famous by TokyoFlash. Free.

PanoLab: And hey—what’s this? New functionalities for your phone? PanoLab stitches together your iPhone cameraphotos into panoramas. Free.

ResistorCode: And another useful calculator: this one for decoding the various colors of resistors to find the resistance in ohms. For you DIY folks. Free.

And this week’s iPhone app coverage on Giz:

•A little something called Android is here. App Store, look out.

•Adding to the growing backlash against Apple’s controversial app approval process was news that rejection notices sent to developers will now be done so under the gag order of an NDA.

•Making the open ridicule of rejections notices like the one sent to MailWrangler, for “Leading to User Confusion” a thing of the past, theoretically.

•And in related news, Apple can’t stop kicking the poor Podcaster folks when they’re down—this time, shutting down their ad-hoc distribution workaround for non-App Store installs.

•We also heard firsthand from developers of Android and iPhone, comparing the pros and cons of both platforms in Matt’s fine feature.

•Hands-on: Japanese “Boob Engineer’s” breast-fondling Web app

•Konami Code 2.0: Does Imagine Poker have a cheatcode based on shaking the Phone at the opportune time?

•iPhone Software 2.2 Beta 1 was seeded to developers

This list is in no way definitive. If you’ve spotted a great app that hit the store this week, give us a heads up or, better yet, your firsthand impressions in the comments. And for even more apps: see our previous weekly roundups here, and check out our original iPhone App Review Marathon. Have a good weekend everybody.

Even as Android lights up developers’ eyes with the sparkling promise of total openness, Apple’s grip continues to tighten around iPhone app development. After being blocked from App Store for “duplicating” iTunes functionality—a dubious argument, for many reasons—Podcaster’s developers turned to a loophole in Apple’s ad hoc app distribution program (mainly for education and testing) to unofficially distribute the app. For $10, they’d register your iPhone or iPod touch and you’d get Podcaster, totally legit, no jailbreaking or anything. Apple has just blocked the developer, Alex Sokirynsky, from making new ad hoc licenses, effectively killing any further distribution.

Anyone who has already paid and had their phone or iPod registered will still be able to install and use it, though. Apple has apparently given no explanation with its latest stomping on the app, though it’s not like the rationale is obscured by a dense fog of WTF. Unlike its past rejections, however, the straightforward argument that “more open is more betterer,” while applicable generally, in this situation is slightly gimped by the complexities of the specifics in this instance.

The initial blockage of Podcaster was ludicrous, absolutely no question there. But, here, Apple has been exceedingly clear that the App Store is the sole (legitimate) way to get and distribute apps. Is it within their rights then to aggressively shut down unofficial distribution channels, especially when it actually makes use of their own system?

The counter-argument, part of the larger one that they should be more open and less outrightly draconian (it’s scary when someone controls the hardware and the software, no?), is that this is a justified act of civil disobedience, moral codes over legal ones, that kind of thing. (Or hell, not even “open,” just less opaquely capricious and more transparent. Supposedly, now you can’t even talk about why Apple killed your app.) After all, that’s largely the spirit of the iPhone app black market, which amazingly seems to only look more critical as this wears on since from all outward appearances, Apple has no intent of relenting.

Either way, they’re doing a damn fine job of making Android look good. [Podcaster via Phone News via AppleInsider]