Two topics this week: our iPhone app and the 2011 SD Times 100 awards.

First: Do you have an iPhone? Version 2.0 of the SD Times Newsreader app is now available in the Apple App Store.

What have we added to our free app? The biggest features are local caching of the articles for offline viewing, new high-resolutions images for iPhone 4’s Retina display, access to the SD Times blog, and categorization of articles.

We have two versions of our app. The first one that came out in 2010 was for the iPhone, and later we introduced the iPad app, which built on the iPhone app but added some new features, like article categorization. Our apps take turns leap-frogging each other; version 2.0 of the iPhone adds all the new functionality of the iPad app, plus access to our blog, the SD Times newswire, and of course improved caching.

Please download and enjoy our free iPhone 2.0 app, and we’d love to hear your comments and suggestions at feedback@bzmedia.com.

If you have an iPad, version 1.0 of that app is available; we should have the version 2.0 update out in a couple of months. We know you’ll like the new ideas we’re bringing forward for that platform.

Second: Reader nominations are now open for the 2011 SD Times 100. This is our 9th annual award—wow, how the time flies.

You, and every reader of SD Times, SDTimes.com or News on Monday, are invited to nominate companies, non-commercial organizations, open-source projects and relevant initiatives for consideration by the judges (a.k.a., the editors of SD Times). The deadline is March 18, 2011; to be fair to those who meet the deadline, no extensions will be given.

The SD Times 100 is not a product award. It recognizes companies, non-commercial organizations, etc. for their innovation and leadership in the field of software development. But it doesn’t recognize specific products or technologies.

When judging, we consider what innovation or leadership a nominee has demonstrated during the past calendar year, and whether that innovation and leadership has significantly influenced the software development industry. For example, we consider “buzz,” which is how much other industry players talk about the nominee, either admiringly or as a competitor.

We also look back over our recent coverage of each company to see how much news it generated. News coverage is a key indication of leadership and innovation. It’s not the only indication, of course, but it is an important one.

As I said above, any reader of SD Times, SDTimes.com or News on Monday is welcome to submit nominations, but reader nominations are not required for award consideration. In fact, early in the process, we judges submit our own nominations for the SD Times 100, and the previous year’s winners are also usually re-nominated. (That doesn’t mean that they’ll win, but it does mean that they’ll be discussed and considered.)

We also add your nominations to the list. We solicit your nominations to help ensure that innovators and leaders are not overlooked during the judging process.

So, reader nominations for the 2011 SD Times are now open. We look forward to your input!

Alan Zeichick is editorial director of SD Times. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/zeichick. Read his blog at ztrek.blogspot.com.