Although the mothership gets endless grief for their byzantine app vetting process and for barring some apps, there’s no question the iPhone’s the smartphone to buy for the biggest selection, both in terms of quantity and quality, of mobile software. Still, those issues linger, though the FCC and Verizon seem to be pushing Apple and AT&T in the right direction.

The iPhone and iPod Touch have turned into major gaming platforms, and it should come as no surprise that people want to kill as much time as possible with their favorite mobile device. Welcome to the world of the all consuming role-playing games.

Microsoft’s hype-driven search decision engine interface has now been optimized for the iPhone and iPod touch, as well as a bunch of the usual touch-based suspects, including the Zune. Features include easy tabbed homepage navigation and tabbed search results organization.

Palm said, “Tit,” and now Apple’s answered with a cursory “tat.” The ongoing war between the two companies over iTunes syncing rumbles on with neither side apparently willing the concede let alone play nicely with the other.

Although I’ve yet to put it to the test, there’s a lot to like just reading through the changes made to this open source project. Have a look at what’s been added and, just as important, what’s been fixed in this milestone release.

Are you annoyed that your iPhone includes many records with no phone numbers? Here’s a sweet little trick — including a ground floor primer on copying, compiling and running an AppleScript — to synchronize only Address Book entries that include telephone numbers.

If you’re a space junky, and we know you’re out there, it’s no longer a question of keeping up with and in touch with National Aeronautics and Space Administration news and happenings — it’s how close you can be and the continuity of the contact. Here’s a free tool for keeping your finger on the pulse when you’re away from a traditional or Wi-Fi internet connection.

With forty-plus million iPhones and Touches in the wild, it would seem that Amazon should be worried that their Kindle app for the iPhone would hurt sales of the actual hardware Kindle. Will it?

Going on a trip and you’re getting ready to print? Stop, don’t kill that tree! Here’s a cool money (and tree) saving trick for caching Google Map driving directions on your iPod touch.

When Apple enabled app upgrades at the time it introduced the 3.0 iPhone operating system, they were very clear that paid in-app upgrades would only be possible in paid apps; free apps would remain free.