I thought Graphing Calculator was cool, but boy the new application Grafly pushes it to a whole new level. While Graphing calculator plots simple equations, Grafly graphs anything that you can find in a calculus book. Best of all, you can move around the curves with your fingers and see them from different positions. Very interesting indeed. Grafly was just released to the iTunes store (actually it was past week).

So BlackBerry finally has a worthy opponent for the iPhone? I got to say,  I am very impressed with the storm. It’s disappointing that storm doesn’t support Wi-Fi, but the touchscreen feature is a nice surprise. You can read all about it here. I think Storm is a great device and Blackberry lovers will love this one too. But unfortunately, I don’t think it has what it takes to truly challenge the iPhone, especially if it is priced the same as the iPhone.

Just when you think the games on the iPhone can’t get any better, you find a new super cool game. This time it’s Moto Chase for iPhone that has just been astonishing for the period I have been trying it. The game Moto Chaser is so realistic for a phone, and it reminds of my favorite game, Microsoft Motocross. If you are a speed demon like me and like addictive games more than actually working, then you should definitely check this game out.

And did I tell you it’s only $.99?

For a long time, I used AIM from AOL on my iPhone to chat with friends and colleagues. But knowing what I know now, I probably wasted my time with AIM. After all, why would you want to waste your time with AOL AIM, when you can get BejiveIM. Bejive is compatible with GTalk, AIM, ICQ, Yahoo and MSN. So you are pretty much covered in that sense.

The buddy list and the overall interface is very slick. What I like about Bejive is that not only the messages will come from your data plan, but you can still receive chats even when you close the application. Besides it works with push email such as MobileMe. The authors are also promising new updates in the future with group chats and more emotion icons. Over all, BejiveIM blows all the competition away. There is simply no comparison.

One of the most popular iPhone apps is back with a vengeance. I remember the first edition was super popular because of its witty questions and its fun nature. But now “Are You Smarter Than a 5 Grader” has been improved by the programmers and is even more fun. For one, you won’t be getting those repetitive questions that you used to get with the first version. Also, the algorithm is improved to make sure you are really smarter than a 5th grader (no piece of cake questions). But more importantly, the new version is now going for only $1.99! So stop complaining about the high price of the original. This is one cool time killer, but make sure you don’t get embarrassed by it.

Nokia doesn’t seem to want to give up on the whole iPhone challenge thing. Now they have come full force ahead with XpressMucic 5800 to challenge the supremacy of Apple iPhone. This time Nokia is also challenging the iTunes by offering its own music service that provides customers with thousands of music songs every month.

I do like this phone a lot on the paper. But Nokia has tried and failed numerous times in its attempts to kill the iPhone. Now they are trying to do it by using a touchscreen phone. I don’t think anything major going to come out of this whole story. The market is simply not the same as it was a year ago with the introduction fo Google phone. Nokia is literally faced with a two-headed monster in the smartphone market.

But not what you think. Apple announced today that they are dropping their NDA on their iPhone software to allow developers to have more flexibility:

We have decided to drop the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) for released iPhone software.

We put the NDA in place because the iPhone OS includes many Apple inventions and innovations that we would like to protect, so that others don’t steal our work. It has happened before. While we have filed for hundreds of patents on iPhone technology, the NDA added yet another level of protection. We put it in place as one more way to help protect the iPhone from being ripped off by others.

However, the NDA has created too much of a burden on developers, authors and others interested in helping further the iPhone’s success, so we are dropping it for released software. Developers will receive a new agreement without an NDA covering released software within a week or so. Please note that unreleased software and features will remain under NDA until they are released.

Thanks to everyone who provided us constructive feedback on this matter.

I think Apple is underestimating Microsoft’s and other’s determination to copy its software. I am sure even with the NDA in place Microsoft was looking for ways to borrow from Apple, so I am glad that Apple has finally seen the logic and decided to drop the NDA restriction.

Apple has just announced that you can buy Apple iPhone 3G online. Not actually. You can do pretty much all you need to do online (select a plan, …) but you have to pick it up at an AT&T or Apple store. Still, it’s better than waiting in the store for the things to get done. Go to Apple store for more information. It still shows that Apple’s willing to work to make it easier for us consumers to pick up the device, but I’d still rather get the device without going to the store.

If you have got your iPhone 3G and are looking to find the latest hacks and tips on how to use it more effectively, today is your day. Amazon will be releasing The Rough Guide to the iPhone 3G edition today. Go check it out!