Blue Flavor has just released a somewhat clever iPhone portal app called Leaflets that allows iPhone users a one-stop-shop to various API houses, such as Flickr, NYT, Le Tour, Upcoming, Newsvine and the like.

This sort of app is exactly what I’m sure Jobs was envisioning when he said that the SDK would be Safari. The web is right now in a space where apps like Yahoo! Pipes and other API mashups are becoming defacto standards for generating web based content.

The world of mashups are nothing really new and it would be interesting to see how well and successful aggregation tools like this perform. How can one even measure success with a site like this? In the end, you just have to look to google as the premiere portal. A portal’s success depends on its transparency and ease of direction. Portals need to just get out of the way and let me get to where I want to go, fast.

For now, worth a bookmark and a spin around the block.

I imagine that I am the target demographic who would care for just gadgetry but along, I really have my heart set on the iPhone. I’ve already set aside is the $699 for the apple product which should be just around the corner now in June. However, seeing that I’ve never had a smartphone, the Dash is a great entry point into the marketplace and will be interesting to see how it compares and constrasts to the iPhone. So how does it stack up for an inital user?

Thus far, the Dash has everything any normal user would like to see in a device such as this:

quad-band GSM, GPRS, and EDGE, along with Wi-Fi for a complete wireless experience. It also includes the requisite messaging clients and media player, Bluetooth, a 1.3 megapixel camera, a MicroSD slot, and Windows Mobile 5.0.

With those features, you’re free to go most anywhere and be completely in the loop and wire free. Huge camera, the SD slot, Bluetooth all help to transfer photos and files. Hey, in fact, Windows Mobile 6 is set to be released sometime in the next couple of days, which should be a very pleasent upgrade.

But is it usable? It really doesn’t feel like it just yet for my life. The benefits (mail, calender) are great, but its got some serious flaws in my eyes. The keyboard is freakishly small and Bluetooth doesn’t like to play with any of my Mac’s, making transfering files a pain. Having the ability to make my time spent waiting around more proactive and educational is what I wanted this tool for and now it seems that its just dead weight in the pocket.

Ease of use….Looks like I’ll have to wait til June. For those curious for Mac or any tips, trips and apps for the Dash, check out HowardForums HTC.

Schultz discusses MP3 potential for Starbucks

When Starbucks pulled CD-burning machines out of most stores that were testing them last year, many wondered if the company would replace those machines with technology for filling MP3 players. The chatter got even louder last fall, when Starbucks unveiled its own area on Apple Computer’s iTunes Web site.
On Tuesday, Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz dropped the word that, “Within 12 months, probably, you’re going to be able to walk into a Starbucks and digitally be able to fill up your MP3 player with music.

“Over the next six to18 months you will see us look at it, perhaps test it,” he said in a talk in New York presented by the Levin Institute, an independent graduate institute within the State University of New York, and Bloomberg News.