Apparently even cool spies gotta have their iPhones as was seen in this week's episode of the NBC action-comedy Chuck. In the one hour spy adventure from Charlie's Angels producer-director McG, Yvonne Strahovski plays the CIA agent Sarah who needs to rescue her partner, the rival NSA agent Casey, played by Adam Baldwin.

She finds her rival tied to a bed in his boxers and seizes the opportunity to make use of the iPhone's camera features to his embarrassment. I am getting the idea that this device has already so penetrated the pop culture mindset that soon you won't be able to go anywhere or watch TV without seeing them around. Of course, with the iPod Touch being visually indistinguishable from it, we may see more than we think we do.

The great thing is, when it comes to iPhone manga, it won't matter whether it's an iPod Touch or an actual IPhone. They will both show the full color visuals in all their glory. Now with the release on iPhone in other international markets, the need for content will be immense. Some are predicting that because of piracy in some Asian markets, mobile phone content may be the holy grail for content producers, especially as mobile carriers are more than willing to shell out the big bucks to get it.

The future is bright for mobile publishing and iPhone manga will be a large part of that. The printing costs for full color comics are a large part of the reason most manga you see is black and white. Now, in the digital world, any manga can exist in its full color at whatever level the mobile screen can handle.

I've been able to see what the mobile has done for manga and art in general in Japan. In the past, being published by one of the majors was essential to even getting noticed. Then came the rise of the doujinshi world where amateur artists could create their works and find outlets for them through self publishing. The problem is they still have to deal with printing costs and few of these books became big sellers. Those that did were usually snatched up by the major publishers. All that has changed now with web and mobile content publishing.

Today manga artists have numerous outlets to show their work, even if it is just a collection of images, and some are doing very well! This is the most exciting time to be in the arena of content creation. Mobile devices on the level of the iPhone are standard in Japan. I can't wait to see what happens next!

Tags: iPhone, Pop Culture, TV, sightings

It's only been out for a few short months and already the iPhone has infiltrated so many avenues of pop culture. It's the mobile device to have, at the moment, and it is showing up everywhere.

On the CBS vampire detective series Moonlight there have been quite a few appearances of the popular hand held device. A couple of weeks ago, the character of Beth Turner played by Sophia Myles of Underworld fame, whipped out her iPhone to receive a call from the vampire himself, Mick St. John.

In last week's episode, the vampire, Mick St. John, tries to use his iPhone to call for help while stranded in the desert in the deadly sunlight. He doesn't go up in flames instantly, but sunlight will eventually kill him. His phone has a cool diamond around the embossed Apple logo. Mine doesn't have that.

In this week's episode, Beth Turner is working on a story and goes to the coroner for a favor. He asks her what is she going to get him for this and they both say in unison, "iPhone." Good product placement definitely doesn't hurt, especially when the iPhone's beautiful screen is all like, KAKOW!

As for other places where the iPhone is showing up, I haven't seen it myself but word on the street is that the iPhone not only appeared in last nights episode of the NBC series Bionic Woman, but that the character was actually holding it upside down! One poster on the macrumors forum wrote, "I was laughing hard when watching Bionic Woman tonight..."The Bad Guy" Victor had Tom "CIA agent tied up in Chair...Tom gets a call from Jamie "Bionic Woman" on his Iphone. Tom at least knew how to hold and talk into the Iphone, however when Victor grab the Iphone he held it upside down and was talking into the earpiece. Took a bit to notice but I got a good laugh."

Apparently, even the guys on Mythbusters have an iPhone. I guess it really is everywhere. This is of course why I see it as the perfect outlet for iPhone manga. There will be more content read on mobile devices than in print one day! It may already be getting to that point in Japan. The Japanese version of this site will be going online soon. Until then, I'll keep watching out for the iPhone in pop culture, and getting cool manga onto it!

Tags: iPhone, Pop Culture, TV, sightings

Today is the day. After a lot of work and strife, and of course fun, this new site is ready to go live. iPhone Alchemy is a site dedicated to mobile content for a new generation. Let's face it, the iPhone is an incredible gadget and revolutionary mobile device, and it is one of the most capable devices for a wide variety of content.

I, for one, see incredible possibilities in the iPhone's very sharp and colorful screen. The first thing that came to my mind is how beautifully it renders full color manga. I have been looking into mobile phone manga for a while now, and even looking into manga on hand held game devices like the Sony PSP. There has never been such a great arena for delivery of mobile manga than is possible with the technology of today.

As an artist who has written manga, speaking mainly of World of Hartz which is published by TOKYOPOP, I see no greater potential for artistic expression than in the all digital arena. Manga in print has costs attached. There's manufacturing, distribution and the limited shelf space in retail outlets. There is a chain that limits what the end user might be able to see regardless of the customer's desire. In the digital arena, especially in Japan, where the digital and mobile market has already become a huge business, independent and doujinshi artists have a voice like never before.

Full color manga is also a rarity because of the cost to print. Books like Range Murata's Robot are very expensive, even for the publisher to make them. Now, in the mobile content arena, beautiful, full color manga can become the standard, the rule instead of the exception. It also becomes possible to deliver more content to more users at an incredibly low price. I think we are going to see a level of growth in the digital manga world that will stagger the mind. I'm ready! What would you like to see?

Tags: iPhone, Manga, Mobile Content