Your iPhone and iPhoto library are in sync with Simplify Photo

Like its music app on the iPhone, which allows you to use your iPhone to tap into your desktop's music collection, Simplify Media provides similar functionality with photos through its Simplify Photo [iTunes link] iPhone app. Many of us are forgetful in some form, and this trait is especially magnified when one proceeds to show others an "awesome photo" on your iPhone that, sadly, didn't get synced. Instead of telling your friends that you'll show or email them the photo later -- assuming you even remember to -- you can use Simplify Photo to view your entire iPhoto collection.
While increased megapixels in digital photography brings with it the promise of better picture quality, in most cases it comes at a file size premium. And because storage space on your iPhone is a finite resource, you can choose to set aside dedicated space for those really important photos and use Simplify Photo for those that are not as important but would nonetheless like to have access to just in case.
Simplify Photo is available for 99 cents on the iTunes App Store, while the required desktop client (available for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux) is available as a free download at the Simplify Media site. The desktop app allows you to not only specify which iPhoto albums and events to sync, but the people as well -- via integration with the app's "Faces" facial detection feature. And if you're not exactly sure which album or event a photo is stored, you can use the app's search feature, which searches your photos' tags, titles and comments.
But the standout feature of Simplify Photo is its geolocation support. Like iPhoto '09's places feature, Simplify Photo displays a map with various dropped pins; and tapping on the pins will display the photos taken in the vicinity.
If a picture can say a thousand words, then Simplify Photo's desktop syncing capabilities have the potential to make your iPhone speechlessly filled with photos.

Searchlight, remote Spotlight on your Mac or iPhone

Searchlight 2.0 was officially released last week. Searchlight offers remote Spotlight functionality, allowing you to search your computer's files via a web browser, and it includes an iPhone-optimized interface. I talked with Searchlight's authors, Gravity Applications, during WWDC and got a good look at the pre-release version which left me pretty impressed. I've personally been using the beta for a while now to access the Mac Mini at my house which serves as my central file repository. Read on for a Searchlight overview ... and an exclusive TUAW giveaway!

The foundation of Searchlight is a fairly simple concept: use Leopard's built-in technologies to navigate, preview and download remote files. This means that from your computer (or from your iPhone), you have access to anything you've allowed Spotlight to index, including emails, calendar events, images, documents, and so on.

Using Quick Look for previews means you can quickly get thumbnail views and previews of a broad range of filetypes. It even recognizes some Quick Look plugins, allowing me, for example, to search for and preview EPS files. I can also search for snippets in source code and see a code-highlighted version with the Quick Look preview or the entire source by choosing the Download option.

Searchlight is a search-only interface; browsing through your folders isn't an option. This could be a deciding factor based on the usage scenario. For me, there are two reasons a Spotlight search is ideal. First, I use a tagging system and a limited folder hierarchy, so even when I'm at my computer I find everything through Spotlight or Spotlight-based applications. Second, the primary reason I access my remote machine and its large external drives is to search for either images or code snippets. My image collection is a vast array of fairly meaningless filenames, and if I'm searching for code I rarely know which file contains the snippet I want ... a Spotlight-powered keyword or content search is my best hope.

Searchlight deals very well with almost every type of file, including emails, events, images and all manner of documents. Searchlight offers good poster frame previews of movies, but one failure of every application I've tried has been movie downloads. Even movies which are already iPhone-compatible fail to play on the iPhone. Searchlight's authors tell me they're looking into this and plan to have a solution soon.

Searchlight's interface is one of its strongest features. Rather than describe it, I've put together a gallery which you'll find at the end of the post.

You can try out a demo version of Searchlight for free. If you're digging it, TUAW has 10 Searchlight licenses to give away to randomly-selected haiku entries. Feeling poetic? Just drop some 3-line (5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables) verse about remote file access (or a creative abstraction thereof) in the comments for a chance at a free license for the $99 application.

To enter the giveaway, please read and follow the rules below:

• Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
• To enter, leave a haiku in the comments.
• The comment must be left before August 17, 11:59PM Eastern Time.
• You may enter once.
• 10 winners will be selected in a random drawing.
• Winners will receive a full license of Searchlight ($99): http://gravityapps.com/searchlight/overview/
• Click Here for complete Official Rules.