TiVo is launching a cell phone-friendly Web site that will allow users to search programming and set their TiVo DVRs remotely. TiVo Mobile will be a free service available "with any Internet-enabled phone through any network, regardless of carrier," according to the company. Any user will have access to the program listings, but only TiVo owners (Series2 or Series3/HD) will be able to set their home DVRs to record programs they would've otherwise missed. A similar service was previously available--for a fee--only to Verizon customers. The service (available soon at m.tivo.com) is currently in beta, but will be more widely available "in a few weeks," according to the company.

It's worth noting that TiVo owners can already program their DVRs remotely through the company's main web site. Likewise, Slingbox owners can also access any DVR remotely (TiVo or otherwise) through the SlingPlayer Mobile software, which is currently available on Windows Mobile, Palm, Symbian smartphones, and coming soon to BlackBerry models as well.

Nothing like a cool new device to close out a hot summer week, right? Sure. Much more important, however, is the associated iPhone 2.0 software update. The arrival of the new software package is something that has many in the consumer crowd eager to outfit their flash drives with an array of third-party developments by way of the long-awaited iPhone App Store.

The question now is, what can we expect to see this week, and what won’t we see? Here are some names that we think will whet your palates.

Social Networking:

Loopt

This one’s been talked about quite a bit. It will help iPhone users connect with fellow Loopt members and let you know whether friends are across town or just down the block. Send messages and photos if you like. Maintain a journal/blog of your time out in the world, too. The service’s demonstration at Apple’s WWDC 2008 conference signified the potential for location-based services, whether they be social or simply informational in a geographic and directorial sense (which Loopt is, in part. It lets you find interesting places and events shared by network members, and vice versa).

SpotJots

Also built with user location in mind, SpotJots allows users to microblog their way through life with a geo-tagging element tossed in for good measure. If you manage a microblog, but think that providing friends with your location would help some in making sense of the “spacial” dimensions of your social network, this one’s definitely a goodie. Unfortunately, a native iPhone-friendly SpotJots application won’t be distributed this week. The service, developed by Ten23 Software, is scheduled to hit the shelves roughly around the first week of August.

Twitterific

What does it take to get premium placement on Apple’s website, anyway? Twitterific for iPhone, which just so happened to nab a 2008 Apple Design Award for “Best iPhone Social Networking Application” in June, is pretty impressive. According to Apple’s site:

“Twitterrific uses iPhone OS technologies extensively including Core Location to integrate geographic location and help people communicate their whereabouts, Core Animation for subtle animation effects to reinforce state changes, WebKit for the built-in browser view and integration with Safari, libxml to provide the fastest and most efficient parsing of XML data returned by the Twitter REST API, and integration with Maps making it easy for people to locate friends, family or co-workers.”

Publishing:

TypePad

This is another item that was featured during the iPhone-centric WWDC keynote, and quite an attractive one, I must say. The application allows the user to quickly post text and photos to the Web, all very intuitively. SixApart, the creator of the TypePad platform, had previously launched a piece of software for the iPhone, but it was Web-based. The native option to soon debut will undoubtedly operate in smoother fashion. And it’s integration with the device’s camera utility is a great convenience.

News Reading:

AP Mobile News Network

Also demonstrated at WWDC was the AP’s Mobile News Network program, which builds upon the concept first introduced through its Web-based iPhone service APnews.com. It will be available free from the App Store later this week.

NetNewsWire

This one is certainly the most appealing option for the category currently. That’s because the AP’s feeds only give you so much variety. NewsGator’s NetNewsWire, on the other hand, is as customizable as can be. Crafted for a preliminary demo at WWDC (Clint Ecker of Ars Technica seemed to enjoy a trial run of the application), was purportedly ready for a launch in the middle of June, so cross your fingers. If you’re hoping to pull feeds from multiple sources, this one is definitely something to watch for.

Photo Browsing/Sharing:

Phanfare

We shared the news of Phanfare’s iPhone support last month. Like the SixApart’s TypePad application, Phanfare utilizes the iPhone’s camera to take pictures and upload them to the Web, along with titles or captions. There they can be edited, browsed, and shared according to your account preferences.

Entertainment:

AOL Radio

Conventional radio may not be seeing the kind of audience that it had a decade or so ago, when the iPod was still just a figment of the imagination. But it’s still around. Over-the-air, over-the-Web, from zero gravity. Whichever. You can get radio any way you like these days. And AOL appears to have spent time ensuring the relevancy of its own digital audio streams as well as some 150 CBS channels by piecing together an application that will determine through Apple’s Core Location technology a user’s position, and present choices for quick and easy listening, either over Wi-Fi or even over a cellular connection.

Miscellaneous:

Where The Locals Eat

We touched on this startup some days ago, at which time they notified us of an iPhone application launch scheduled for July 11. Simply put, Where The Locals Eat gives you a list of the Top 100 restaurants, segmented by food type, in 50 American cities.

… And The Question Marks:

XM Radio

Yes, there’s still that merger with Sirius Radio up in the air (so to speak), but according to Executive VP and Chief Marketing Officer of XM, Vernon Irvin, the satellite radio broadcaster is working on an iPhone client. Given the likelihood that an such a service will require a monthly fee from users, though, I’d put my money on AOL Radio coming out far ahead in download count when all is said and done.

SlingPlayer Mobile

We all know it’s coming, but when exactly is a mystery. Sling Media hasn’t been known for its expedience when shipping products. Estimates run into 2009 for this iPhone application.

AOL IM

It was demonstrated at a gathering at Apple’s home campus earlier this year, but the company has kept mum about it since. I would personally like to see something along the lines of an Apple-approved download of Adium or Apollo IM, but chances are those will have to wait. Apollo IM is presently available only for jailbroken devices. And Adium’s developers explain the battle a virtual total recoding of the application for iPhone compatibility will be an arduous one. That is if they do in fact go through with the effort.

Google

Google’s VP of engineering, Vic Gondotra, was quoted in May as having said, “We expect to have applications at day one.” Does this mean a suite of localized Google Apps? We already have Google Maps. And Google assembled a portal with a half dozen or more services for use on the iPhone. What else could there be?

Qik

It’s been proven possible. How soon ‘til it arrives in the App Store? (Ditto for Flixwagon.)

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As Apple gears up for the launch of its 3G iPhone, outside developers and startups are finally going to get to sell or give away their own applications that run natively on the phone (as opposed to being optimized for the Safari browser, as are most legal, third-party apps today). These apps, which are built on the iPhone SDK announced last March, will be distributed through the upcoming iPhone App Store (which apparently won’t launch for a few weeks). These apps will have some limitations (you can only run one app at a time and VOIP services only work via WiFi, for instance), but they will also bring a lot of innovation to the iPhone.

We’ve been tracking some of these announcements as companies prepare to unveil their new iPhone apps. They are listed below. There is a good chance more will be announced on stage during Steve Jobs’ keynote today. We will update as we learn more. Please let us know which ones we missed in comments.

Super Monkey Ball: It took Sega two weeks to create a version of its popular video game for the iPhone. It will cost $9.99 at the iPhone App Store. Players use the built-in accelerometer to move the character.

The Associated Press: New app will retrieve local news based on your location. Also links every iPhone with the app to the AP so citizen journalists can send in photos taken on their iPhones of breaking events, as well as text commentary.

Six Apart (TypePad): Blogging from you iPhone? An iPhone announcement from Six Apart is expected today. More details as we get them. Update: Six Apart’s iPhone app lets you blog from your iPhone and add photos taken with the phone’s camera. It makes it easy to create micro-blog posts around a photo by adding a title, category and text. This app will be free for Typepad users. See how Six Apart CEO Chris Alden tried valiantly not to answer Mike’s questions on video when he was cornered right before the Apple keynote:

Pangea Software (Enigmo and Croman Rally): Two games for the iPhone that will cost $9.99 each. Enigmo is a touch-based puzzle game where you move drops of water around with your finger. Croman Rally is a race game with Flinstone-style cars that players control with the iPhone’s accelerometer.

Cow Music: Built by a single developer, Mark terry, in his time, the app is called Band. It lets you play virtual instruments on the iphone and create music. Instruments include piano, drums, guitars. You play the instruments by banging (lightly) on the iPhone.

MLB.com’s At Bat: Shows stats and video highlights of baseball games.

Modality: An anatomy app for medical students. The app is filled with anatomy drawings and images linked to Google and Wikipedia for more detailed information.

MIMvista: Another tool for doctors to view CT scans and PET scans on their iPhones.

Digital Legends Entertainment: Another game that took two days to port to the iPhone. Will be available in September.

SlingPlayer Mobile: You will soon be able to watch TV on your iPhone. Just like a Slingbox that let’s you access your TV from anywhere around the world, Sling Media is creating a version of its SlingPlayer Mobile app for the iPhone. That means theoretically you could watch all the channels you have at home on your iPhone, as long as the Internet connection is strong enough to stream the video.

Loopt: The social mobile network is expected to announce an iPhone version of its app. Loopt shows you where your friends are based on GPS and other location-tracking technologies. Loopt is already available on many Sprint and Verizon phones. With the iPhone, it will add AT&T to its roster.

Phanfare: Take pictures on your iPhone, add captions, and share them as slideshows on the Web. Phanfare is launching its iPhone version today.

Whrrl: Another mobile social network geared at sharing opinions and reviews of local establishments with your friends. The company behind Whrrl, Pelago, was is part of Kleiner Perkins’ iFund. (Read our review here).

Citysense: Nightlife tracker. Let’s you see the city’s hot spots by showing heat maps of where people are via their cell phones and other signal-emitting mobile devices. Only available in San Francisco for now. A demo app for Sense Networks.

iCall: VOIP on your iPhone. We covered it here.

Glide 3.0: It’s your desktop on your iPhone.

eBay: We’re not sure what eBay has up its sleeve either, but Mike caught up with an eBay executive at the Moscone center who sounded like had something to hide:

Update: Turns out eBay developed an auctions app for the iPhone. From Mike’s liveblog notes: “They’re showing home screen with search, avatar and a number of navigation items.”

Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.

Who's going to be selling apps on the iPhone Apps store? Here's our work-in-progress list of developer/app announcements, which we'll be updating throughout the day. Feel free to add more to the comments, which we'll add to the list. (Alphabetized by app name.)

• At Bat baseball scores/video highlights by MLBAM
• Band music app by independent developer Mark Terry
• Cro-Mag Rally and Enigmo games by Pangea Software ($9.99 each)
• eBay auctions app by eBay (EBAY)
• iCall Internet phone software by iCall
• Lingolook translation apps by Lingolook (via BW)
• Loopt location-based social networking by Loopt (free)
• Mobile News Network, a location-based news app by the Associated Press (free)
• Modality medical app and a dozen more by Epocrates
• Phanfare photo-sharing app by Phanfare
• Readdle book/document viewer by Readdle
• SlingPlayer video streaming app by SlingBox (Coming soon; via Engadget)
• Super Monkey Ball game by Sega ($9.99)
  
• Tribune app and 25 more projects by ScrollMotion (via BW)
• Twitterific Twitter app by Iconfactory (via BW)
• TypePad blogging app by SixApart (free)
  
• Whrrl by Pelago
• Unknown titles: 20 apps by 360mind (via BW)
• Unknown titles: Medical app by MIMvista
• Unknown title: Game by Digital Legends, available by September