I am in the middle of rapid prototyping a new Rails based web application for India and we are coming up with multi-platform interface for it and I thought, “why not for the iPhone?”. So I started researching the other sites out there that iPhone compatible and after a bit of search came across a great resource - World of iPhone Links, updated frequently and sorted alphabetically this is the ultimate iPhone sites list so far.

Second in the US (behind RIM) and third globally (behind Nokia and RIM) Apple is now a global force in the smartphone market. Any new web application/service cannot ignore the iPhone or the Nintendo Wii (more on that soon).

There’s a lot of buzz about a new beta release today from Israeli startup Oovoo - Free calls to landlines and mobiles in the USA and Canada till March 1, 2008.

Features -

• Six person video conferencing & chatting
• Record calls
• Call long distance (free for 3 more weeks)
• Find & add friends
• File transfers
• Sidebar view (Vista)

The most interesting of their experiments is My Oovoo Day With… which gets the top bloggers to interact with their audience beyond their blogs posts and comments. Beginning on Feb 10, this week long experiment will be something that I am looking out for.

Apparently, this is a Windows only release, but Mac users rejoice - I found this link for a beta alpha download for OS X (though I haven’t tested it on my 2.2ghz santa rosa). Also, check out the Mac Forums at Oovoo.

Update - Thanks to Scott, I now have the beta version for Mac as well. Check out MyOoVooDay.

Update - Turns out that even the beta version doesn’t have the free calling, that’s PC only. Sucks.

I don’t know how lost I was in my own empty space that I missed the launch, the success of ‘Breathing Under Water‘ and the phenomenal return of Karsh Kale with another favorite of mine, Anoushka Shankar. This is a co-produced album that in my opinion returns Kale to his roots. Tracks like Sea Dreamer feat. Sting and they bring in the grand-daddy of sitar, Pandit Ravi Shankar for Oceanic Pt. 1 & 2.

Not to be left out, Karsh’s favorite and a great voice of his own - Vishal Vaid. ‘Abyss’ stands out as the track and is one of those evergreens that will be on my playlist for a long time.

All of these stories pass through time
All these verses and rhymes
All these heroes and crimes
changing water into wine
- Abyss, Breathing Under Water

Breathing Under Water - Abyss (sample)