GOBA 2.5

GOBA ("Get Out, Be Active"), led by John Dayani Jr., today announced v2.5, a more robust version. Release here. Other GOBA progress notes here.

Murdoch's 'Daily' on i-newstands

Rupert Murdoch's The Daily has hit iPads and other i-newstands, for 99cts per week, $40/year. The New York Times reports. In contrast to The Daily's original reporting, The New York Times' own News.me app will pull-in news being tweeted by people you follow. TechCrunch reports.

Griffin Technology: iPhone uber alles

We were going to highlight a Griffin product, but what the heck, take your pick. The Keebler elves have nothing on these guys.

VU research on keyboarding Errrrors

Wait'll iPhone hears it's struggling with our hands, not our brains when it audaciously changes our spelling. The story on Vanderbilt research on intelligence buried in our hands is here. There's a business idea in this somewhere.

Venture Notes, March 26

Claritas Capital's John Chadwick, Innova's Ken Woody and a MoonPie entrepreneur sound off, in this gathering of Venture items.

Memphis CA's garage-sale app

The Memphis Commercial Appeal has launched an iPhone garage sale-finding application. The story's here.

McLaren draws on HealthStream stake

Our hunch is that Jeff McLaren's (at left) reported recent selling of $469K in HealthStream stock was to help advance his new startup, recently reported by VNC: Medaxion, which aims to help anesthesiologists capture charges via the iPhone platform. The City Paper reports today McLaren's sale, as part of the paper's review of public-companies' insiders' sales and purchases in 2009. McLaren is a co-founder and board member at NASDAQ-listed HSTM.

iPhone apps in Mid-TN

The Tennessean's iPhone app roundup this morning includes mention of locals Firefly Logic, Griffin Technology, gpsAssassin and others. Here are earlier VNC stories on gpsAssassin and Change:Healthcare.

TechCrunch blowsup NV firm

Nashville-based Nicholas Holland and Jackson Miller's (at left) gpsAssassin game for iPhone gets one helluva sendup on TechCrunch, by writer Jason Kincaid. Here's our earlier story on the game's launch. A year ago, Jackson Miller was presenting in the TechCrunch demo pit, a startup showcase, and hoping to launch Statzen, which has taken somewhat of a backseat to gpsAssassin, which recently passed the 10,000 simultaneous users milestone.

App as brand validation?

The CA reports: ArtsMemphis is actually having an "app launch" party to celebrate its presence in the iPhone-iTouch cosmos. Hmm: Stay tuned for iMilt.

Nth Track: Digital Music

Universal Music Group Distribution partners with TuneCore for release of artists' music. The release is out today. Also released this week, SONY Music Entertainment and EpicTilt's TapStar, a rythmn music game for iPhone users. See also our recent story on Bandbox and PassAlong Networks, and our earlier blurb on local iPhone app efforts. Love Don Tate's art at left (Austin American-Statesman).

More on iPod apps

[Updated June 15, 10:44 a.m.] Our earlier story on Nicholas Holland's and Jackson Miller's gpsAssassin obviously only uncovered the tip of the iceberg. For more, check out today's NBJ page-one piece (subscription), which includes not only gpsAssassins, but DeepWell developers and others. And, this Forbes piece says Apple's making at least $10MM per day from its cut of iPhone Apps Store proceeds.

Shwew! Got it: iPhone apps abound

Friends and family of Nashville iPhone app developers who weren't in yesterday's story about gpsAssassin have been writing to point out other hot or maybe hottish iPhone plays by locals, including, but not limited to, SmartVue Corporation's iPhone surveillance extension...Griffin Technology (locally based national maker paraphernalia for iPod, iTouch)...Brentwood publisher Magellan Press Inc.'s LocalEats app, et cetera, et al. Thanks. Would love to hear from more small-screen app developers.