As the 2008 presidental contest heats up, the candidates are increasingly taking advantage of technology and social media to connect with their supporters. Today, the Obama campaign released an iPhone/iPod Touch application which will allow supporters to track and coordinate their volunteering efforts, as well as receive updates regarding their candidate.

What’s interesting to me is that the app also adds a competitive element, allowing users to track the calls they’ve been making against a leaderboard.

Jump past the break to see the full list of features.

The list of apps that are only available for jailbroken iPhones has gotten one shorter with the release of Tris at the App Store. OK, so Tris won’t do any of the things Apple won’t allow that some jailbroken apps will, but it’s a blast to play. Plus, you don’t have to jailbreak your iPhone. I, for one, would never do that (…again..at least, I don’t want to…yet).

Tris is free, open source, and awesome.

Details after the break.

There are a couple of ways developers can entice you to buy their apps. They can give a great description, with an ample supply of pictures on the app store. In addition, it’s always nice to see a link to a full website with a video walk through, though not as many do this. And plenty of good reviews with a high star rating help to make that purchase a little more informed. This can, and does, work for many apps, but there are other ways.

Read on to learn what they are, and to find out how you can find the best deals (or even get apps for free).

Earlier this year, I posted that NetNewsWire had gone free – now I can say the same about its biggest competitor, Newsfire. NewsFire has been one of the most popular offline RSS readers for the Mac; created by David Watanabe, the developer who brought us Xtorrent and Acquisition. “After much internal debate, I’ve made the more »

Freeverse, a Mac software and game developer, is giving away free passes to the MacWorld conference if you’re one of the first to put your name in. I believe the limit is at 100 for free passes, but there is no limit on the discounted passes which sell for the highly-discounted rate of $10. I more »

One day before the iPhone launched Steve Jobs held a conference for all Apple employees, the outcome was that all Apple employees would receive a free iPhone. Today, a few Apple employees are reporting they have received their iPhones. Any employees who have worked at least a year for the company will receive an 8GB more »

Recently we mentioned a service called Singtones that allows you to actually record your signing as a Ringtone. They then make sure your voice is both in tune and in time with the original song and send you your Ringtone. Well thanks to Rob from Singtones every Appletell reader can now get their very own more »

There’s just over 16 hours to go until our iPhone giveaway closes and a winner is announced. Make sure you get your comment in ASAP, and don’t forget to tell family/friends to enter quickly as well if they haven’t already. All you have to do to have a chance to win is: 1) Subscribe to more »

Going back to college? Apple is (once again) running the promotion whereby students who buy a Mac and an iPod will receive a mail-in rebate for a free iPod. To be eligible for the promotion, participants must purchase a qualifying Mac and iPod on the same receipt up until September 16. Although the “free iPod” more »