In attempt to add extra intrigue to its new electric car set to be unveiled this Sunday, Nissan is developing an iPhone app that will allow drivers to closely monitor the status of these new cars.

These electric cars, planning on a 2010 debut in Japan and North America, will hold lithium ion batteries and contain its own IT system that will enable the iPhone app to take a peek and control different functions of the car remotely.

Drivers of the new car will be able to:

• Check the battery status of the car and how long it will take to fully charge it
• Find out the car’s internal temperature
• Remotely turn on the car’s AC, to make it cool enough before you get inside

There may be more features added later, but this is an incredible start to what will become a very useful and innovative iPhone application.

Working versions have been demonstrated by Nissan at its headquarters in Japan, so we know the app should be in excellent working condition by the time the new car is officially on the market.

via PC World

The concept behind Power On is so simple I wonder why I didn’t think of it myself. It allows you to remotely turn on or wake up any of the computers in your network.

How could this be of any benefit? With Power On you can wake your sleeping Mac and then play iTunes music using Apple’s Remote App, all without leaving your couch.

Here’s a screenshot:

Setup will be quite easy. To learn more about the process, visit PowerOn’s website.

I suspect that the computers can only be woken up if your iPhone is in the network as well, meaning you’d have to be within the same WiFi zone and it would not work on 3G. I will keep you updated if I find out differently, however.

My other suggestion for future updates is to add an option to Power Off (or put to sleep) these same devices once you’re done using them.

Power On is still a great idea and I hope it can be implemented flawlessly. It was submitted to the App Store on July 16, so we should be seeing it in less than 8 days.

The app is actually now available in iTunes for download, and you can get it here.

PowerOn’s Twitter Account

In addition, you can search for specific shows or browse channels to find what you want, and each popular show features “Showcards” which are slideshows that you have the option of viewing.

As for availability, that part is confusing. See, the PDF file that DBSTalk shows off mentions that the DirecTV app is already available in the App Store, but I have looked all over the place to find it without any success. So I’m assuning the PDF file was only meant to be shown as soon as the app was officially released. We really don’t know if or when it will be released, but it does look rather official and ready to go, so we hope it isn’t too far off!

via DBSTalk