The Financial Times‘ David Gelles reports that Apple will hold an event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. They expect Apple to “make a major product announcement on Tuesday, January 26th.”

Citing Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, David Gelles hints that a tablet will likely be announced at the event.

Dan Frommer has since published a piece on Silicon Alley Insider saying:

Apple has been telling some app makers to prepare apps for a demo next month, according to this source. “They’ve told select developers that as long as they build their apps to support full screen resolution — rather than a fixed 320×480 — their apps should run just fine,” our source says.

According to a source who spoke with the Boy Genius Report, the Apple tablet is going to come in a 7-inch size. Their source didn’t know whether or not that was the only size, only that the 7-inch size is definitely coming.

Not to be left out of the fray, MacRumors has found evidence that Apple has acquired the domain name “islate.com” and TechCrunch has found evidence that Apple has trademarked the term “iSlate.” MacRumors, building off of TechCrunch’s findings, later found that Apple has the trademark for “Magic Slate” as well.

As Nick Bilton of the New York Times puts it:

But the icing on the cake comes from a current senior employee inside Apple. When one of my colleagues here asked if the rumors of the Apple tablet were true, and when we could expect such a device, the response from his source was, “I can’t really say anything, but, let’s just say Steve is extremely happy with the new tablet.”

Yet another recently departed Apple employee tipped me: “You will be very surprised how you interact with the new tablet.”

It sounds to me like John Gruber was right, the tablet will be a 2010 thing.

Update 1/1/10: MacRumors has uncovered another “buried” Apple trademark, this time for the term “iGuide.” MacRumors’ Arnold Kim thinks that the iGuide name could be related to the Apple tablet. However, I would just chalk this up as another one of those just-in-case-we-want-to-use-it trademark filings.

Meanwhile, Fox News’ Clayton Morris has “confirmed” Apple’s January event. Morris claims to have spoken with a source inside Apple that has confirmed the rumored January event. Also, saying that the event will focus on the mobility space.

Hans Wu, reporting for DigiTimes:

The sources said OmniVision has secured 5-megapixel CIS orders for the next-generation iPhone model, which will hit shelves sometime during the second half of 2010.

It’s hard to tell how credible DigiTimes’ sources are, they’ve been hit and miss in the past, but a 5 megapixel camera sounds very intriguing.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple has been moving forward with their plan to offer monthly television subscriptions through iTunes. Peter Kafka of All Things Digital first wrote about such a service back in November.

The service would give subscribers access to some TV shows from a selection of networks for a monthly fee. The Wall Street Journal is unaware as to whether or not any networks have signed on, but CBS and Disney are said to be interested in the service. Apple could have a hard time convincing other networks to sign on. Some versions of the deal would see Apple paying media companies $2-4 a month per subscriber to larger networks like CBS or ABC and $1-2 a month per subscriber to smaller networks. The Wall Street Journal says that even with those prices (which are often higher than what cable companies pay), News Corp., Viacom, Discovery, and Turner Broadcasting are “opposed to or leaning away from signing on, at least to Apple’s initial proposals.”

Early versions of the offer included access to advertising-free shows from top cable and broadcast networks for $30 a month. This echoes Peter Kafka’s report from November and, in my opinion, is an incredibly reasonable price (assuming users had access to a decent assortment of television shows).

Aside from the above offer there isn’t any indication as to whether or not this service would include advertising. I’m inclined to say that it wouldn’t but I’m not sure if Apple would be able to convince networks to sign on without it.

Previously:
11/7/09: $30 Per Month for iTunes TV Shows

A handy little utility has cropped up called MagicPrefs. This menubar application brings some extra functionality and configuration options to the Magic Mouse.

Options for various clicks, taps, swipes, pinches, and the ability to increase the tracking speed by an extra 200% are available. Gestures can be mapped to call Spaces, Expose, Dashboard, etc.

I installed the app and played with it for about 20 minutes. It all seemed to work well but I ended up uninstalling it because I didn’t think the functionality warranted the extra menubar icon.

An application like this should be in System Preferences, where it belongs.

Google senior VP of product management, Jonathan Rosenberg sent an email to Google employees that was recently published on Google’s official weblog.

John Gruber regarding Rosenberg’s memo:

Basically, he’s spewed 4,000 words to say that “open” is always good and always wins, Google is always open, therefore Google is always good and will always win. And please don’t worry your pretty little minds about things like Google’s search or ad algorithms or the specific details of how its data centers work, all of which things Google could not possibly be more secretive about. Because if you think about these things, you’ll see that Google isn’t open at all about certain financially lucrative areas where it has built huge technical advantages over its competitors, and that’s not possible, because Google is always open.

Rosenberg’s memo makes me think twice about whether or not I should be using any of Google’s services. I have no problem with a company being closed (Apple is a great example of this) but I do have a problem with that company misleading the public into believing that they are open.

Gabriel Madway reports for Reuters:

Tapulous — with a mere 20 employees — said its “Tap Tap Revenge” game series has now been installed more than 20 million times, with more than 600 million total games played.

Tapulous also says that their iPhone app sales have approached $1 million a month.

Stories like this remind me why developers are willing to put up with Apple’s App Store policies.

Rémi Denis-Courmont writing on The VideoLan Forums:

There are now effectively zero active developers for MacOS. […] If it goes on like this, MacOS support may be discontinued as of VLC 1.1.0. There is nobody to make the necessary updates to the MacOS support code, for instance to support the new VLC video output architecture.

Rémi says that the 64-bit releases of VLC for Mac have been put on hold and with the VLC development learning curve the way it is, the situation is critical.

This is sad news. Although I usually use Perian for all my oddball video formats, I always have a copy of VLC on my hard drive for those extra finicky video files.

I wonder what the folks over at HandBrake think about this, since it now uses VLC to decrypt DVDs.

Previously:
11/26/09: HandBrake 0.9.4 Released

Update 12/26/09: It seems as though the reports of VLC’s death were unfounded. From the team wiki:

VLC for Mac is being maintained. However the old Cocoa graphical interface of VLC, is not being maintained at this time. The reason is that we are in the process of rewriting a new interface for VLC. Its codename is Lunettes. Why a rewrite? This is something really easy to see. VLC for Mac is just not “Mac” enough.

From Apple’s News and Announcements for iPhone Developers page:

Use of [HTTP Live Streaming] is now required for all applications which deliver streaming video. You must include a low quality stream of no more than 64 Kbps for your app to resort to when network conditions demand it, along with the higher quality streams you want to deliver to your customers when the network can support it.

Many developers may be upset about this but Apple forcing them to adopt a new and better standard pushes the overall ecosystem forward.

Also, it helps that HTTP Streaming is a good standard. I will probably change my tune if Apple tries to pull this with a poor standard.

Jonny Evans of 9 to 5 Mac reports that Apple will be shutting down iTunes Connect for Christmas. iTunes Connect is Apple’s developer portal for those who make apps available through the App Store.

From Apple’s “weekend note”:

iTunes Connect, the tool you use to manage your applications and access your reports, will be unavailable from December 23 through December 28, 2009.

Not only does this mean that developers won’t be able to check purchase and download statistics for their applications during those five days, it also means that developers won’t be able to lower the price of their application for Christmas day sales.

Engadget‘s Nilay Patel reports that the initial Twitter app that launched for the Zune HD not only had poor performance but also censored swear words in tweets.

They have since updated the app to improve performance, although Engadget is stilling seeing “unresponsive buttons, laggy scrolling, and random WiFi disconnects,” but they have removed the censorship.

Honestly, did they really think they were going to get away with this?

In the words on John Gruber:

What a joke.

Previously:
9/17/09: Zune HD
8/14/09: Zune HD Apps

Laura Northrup reports for The Consumerist that those who have pre-ordered the Barnes & Noble nook have received emails from informing them that if their nook is not delivered by December 24 they will receive a $100 Barnes & Noble gift certificate.

For those that do not receive their nook by December 24, Barnes & Noble plans to ship it overnight on December 29.

Barnes & Noble has really botched the launch of this device, after missing ship dates left and right and their overall inability to fulfill orders, this is obviously their way of trying to cool tempers. I’m not sure if it’s going to work though, those who ordered the nook as a gift would surely rather have the nook on time. But, at least their trying.

On a lighter note, the nook is slow, and it’s differentiating features come with some major caveats, but it’s incredibly hackable. Engadget’s Thomas Ricker reports that clever nook owners have managed to get a web browser, Twitter, and Facebook app on the device.

Then again, how useful are these hacks if Barnes & Noble can’t actually ship units in any reasonable capacity.

Previously:
12/10/09: Barnes & Noble nook Reviews Start Pouring In
10/22/09: Barnes & Noble ‘nook’
10/17/09: Barnes and Noble E-Book Reader

Gizmodo has revealed that Palm is scheduling an invitation-only press event during CES. It will be held on Thursday, January 7, 2010, at 11am.

Gizmodo’s Jason Chen says that an update to the Pre is a safe bet. I agree, the Pre was announced at this year’s CES and I doubt Palm would go more than a year without announcing a new flagship handset. That is, unless they’re following in Apple’s footsteps. Apple announced the original iPhone at MacWorld 2007 but it wasn’t available until June 29. Apple didn’t announce their followup handset, the iPhone 3G, until June 9 of 2008. Apple took nearly a year and a half to announce their next handset.

Just speaking of Palm’s flagship handset, the Pre was announced at CES last year. But, the device wasn’t available until June. Palm announced their first modern handset early, just like Apple, I wonder if they’re going to wait until late spring to announce their followup, just like Apple did.

If Palm was to announce a new handset, there is also the question of whether or not it will be on Sprint. There have been some rumblings of a webOS device coming to Verizon. Engadget found an FCC filing for a Palm Pixi destined for Verizon’s network (with Wi-Fi no less). Feeding more fuel to the fire, a Phone Arena tipster (and a “trusted” one at that) sent them a document revealing that Verizon has already started training personnel on webOS.

It’s safe to say that any Palm device coming to Verizon would be a boon for Palm, but, if true, I’m certain Sprint won’t be too happy about it.

Previously:
10/18/09: Verizon to Get Palm Pre ‘Early Next Year’
9/9/09: The Palm Pixi
5/19/09: Palm Pre to Release on June 6 for $199.99

Update 1/13/10: Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus Coming to Verizon

T-Mobile Forums moderator, Dominic, posting in T-Mobile Forums:

Beginning December 9^th, customers on post-paid accounts with devices running Android 1.6, such as the T-Mobile G1 and T-Mobile myTouch 3G, will begin to receive an update to the Android Market application to allow for purchases to be charged directly to their T-Mobile account.  This allows customers to purchase paid applications without entering credit card information.

This could be a big deal. Separating the actual transaction from the download of Android apps could cause a big jump in sales.

New Payment Option for Android Market Purchases – T-Mobile Community.

Macworld‘s Dan Moren reports of three recent iPhone app approvals that are a little out of the ordinary. The applications mentioned were Knocking Live Video, Ustream Live Broadcaster, and iSimulate, all of which use private APIs.

Vimov, the developer behind iSimulate has published Apple’s email regarding their iSimulate’s use of private APIs. From the email:

Thank you for submitting your update to iSimulate to the App Store. During our review of your application we found it is using a private API, which is in violation of the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement section 3.3.1; “3.3.1 Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs.” While your application has not been rejected, it would be appropriate to resolve this issue in your next update.

The non-public API that is included in your application is UITouch._touchFlags.

Please resolve this issue in your next update to iSimulate.

Another recent addition to the growing list of private API using applications is Hot Links. Jonah Grant, the developer of Hot Links, has also received a similar email from Apple that has published on his blog.

Dear Mr. Grant,

Thank you for submitting your update to Hot Links to the App Store.  During our review of your application we found it is using a private API, which is in violation of the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement section 3.3.1; “3.3.1 Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs.” While your application has not been rejected, it would be appropriate to resolve this issue in your next update.

The non-public API that is included in your application is setNumberOfRows:.

Please resolve this issue in your next update to Hot Links.

Regards,

iPhone Developer Program

It appears that Apple has taken a more lenient stance when it comes to the use of private APIs. Of course, this doesn’t mean that Apple will allow private API use, simply that for the time being they will accept applications that use private APIs, as long as they don’t break anything and the private API use is removed with the application’s next update.

Update 11/23/09: App Store Submissions are Being Tested with a Static Analysis Tool

TomTom has released a navigation app that includes maps just for the US. The application is available at its introductory price of $49.99.

From the app description:

• Get the TomTom navigation app and enjoy smart, easy-to-use, turn-by-turn navigation on your iPhone or iPod touch
• Buy now and get upcoming app updates for free

The introductory price ends on December 28. So, if you’re looking for an inexpensive option from one of the big guys, pick it up soon.

TomTom U.S.A – $49.99

Previously:
10/23/09: TomTom Car Kit Comes to Apple’s Online Store

Update 12/17/09: TomTom has also lowered the price of their U.S. & Canada navigation application until December 28. TomTom U.S. & Canada currently costs $69.99.

From Amazon:

When you purchase select DVD and Blu-ray titles from Amazon.com you will also receive an Amazon Video On Demand standard definition version as a gift with purchase (see details). You’ll be able to instantly enjoy the video on demand version on your Mac, PC, compatible device or compatible TV when it is available.

I’ve always believed that if you buy a physical version of any type of media the seller should also give you a digital version to download at the time of purchase. Even if the digital version is lower quality than the physical version it’ll give the purchaser that extra push to buy from you and not someone else.

Instant gratification is a wonderful thing.

Amazon.com Special Offer.

Jacqui Cheng reporting for Ars Technica on AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega’s remarks at the UBS conference:

Heavy data users may soon find themselves paying more for service if they’re AT&T customers. […] noting that a mere three percent of smartphone users suck up some 40 percent of the company’s traffic. For those of us who are constantly tortured subjected to AT&T’s slow service, this may seem like a great idea, but de la Vega’s threat falls into the same trap that other ISPs have used in order to merely profit more from heavy users. […] The company claims that perhaps these users aren’t aware of what kind of effect they’re having on the network and could use some “education” on the matter.

I wish AT&T would realize that charging people more to use a crappy network is no way to run a business. These are your power users who convince their family and friends to use (or not use) your network. These are the people you want to keep happy, they might have lower margins because of their data usage. But, don’t you have enough customers who pay for services they barely use?

AT&T wants to “educate,” charge heavy data users more.

Update 12/17/09: Krishna Subramanian, founder of Mobclix, speaking with PC World:

As a consumer, you definitely don’t want [usage-based pricing]. It’s going to limit the number of applications you download, the amount of content you consume, the amount of music you’re downloading. […] What I think will happen is there will be more competition from other carriers with their devices that will force the load across different platforms.

Agreed. If AT&T keeps this up users will be forced to eat the early termination fee and unlock their devices for use on other networks. I hate to say it, but this may be the only way AT&T will learn to treat their customers better.

AT&T Mobility Chief Executive Ralph de la Vega denied rumors of tiered pricing when speaking with the Wall Street Journal:

We have not made any decision to implement tiered pricing.

Translation: We haven’t decided how much we’re going to charge you by the megabyte yet, but we’ll probably figure that out soon.

Currently they have plans to offer “incentives” to limit their use of the wireless data network. The plan’s details are still unknown but we do know that they will offer more free Wi-Fi hot spots and are also running femtocell trials.

Update 12/20/09: Joel Johnson, writing for Gizmodo, reveals that AT&T has spent less on network construction every quarter since the iPhone’s launch. So, they want to charge us extra because they didn’t have the foresight to build out their network?

TechCrunch’s MG Siegler reports that Apple has announced the availability of RSS feeds for developer news.

From Apple’s email announcement:

You can now subscribe to a new RSS feed for iPhone Developer News and Announcements. Stay up to date and receive valuable information on a wide range of topics including:

• Tips on submitting apps to the App Store
• Current turnaround time for app review
• Program updates
• development and testing techniques

Apple has been spending a lot of time trying to fix all of the App Store’s problems. The App Store still isn’t fixed yet, but it is getting closer.

Apple Continues To Open Communication Channels About The App Store.

TechCrunch reports that Google has given out unlocked Android 2.1 “Google Phones” to some of its employees.

Several Google employees have confirmed on Twitter that they had received such a device. Google employee Jason Howell had this to say about it:

The new Google Phone runs on HTC hardware. I saw it w/ Android 2.1. Homescreen has new visual enhancements like animated desktop wallpaper.

Google product management VP Mario Queiroz has confirmed that Google has given devices out to their employees in a recent post to Google’s official mobile blog.

We recently came up with the concept of a mobile lab, which is a device that combines innovative hardware from a partner with software that runs on Android to experiment with new mobile features and capabilities, and we shared this device with Google employees across the globe.

It’s not just Google employees confirming the devices existence. John Gruber of Daring Fireball has found the following user agent string in his web site statistics which he believes to be the Google Phone:

Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.1; en-us; Nexus One Build/ERD56C) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/530.17

The device is said to be released in January of next year and identifies itself as “Nexus One” in its user agent string. The device is unlocked but uses T-Mobile’s 3G band, so those who use it on AT&T will be stuck on EDGE.

In terms of handset features, we know that the device is thinner than the iPhone, uses a Snapdragon chip, has a high resolution OLED display, two microphones (one on the back to reduce background noise), and voice to text for dictation.

Google’s head of Android development, Andy Rubin had previously disputed rumors of Google building Android hardware. Although this is true (since HTC is building the hardware) Michael Arrington was pretty close to the mark when he claimed that Google was building Android hardware back in November.

Update 12/12/09: Jessica E. Vascellaro reporting for the Wall Street Journal:

Google Inc. has designed a cellphone it plans to sell directly to consumers as soon as next year, according to people familiar with the matter. The phone is called the Nexus One and is being manufactured for Google by HTC Corp., these people said. […]

The Internet giant is taking a new, and potentially risky, approach to selling the device. Rather than selling the phone through a wireless carrier–the way the bulk of phones are sold in the U.S. today–Google plans to sell the Nexus One itself online. Users will have to buy cellular service for the device separately.

Google selling their own branded handset could alienate other handset manufacturers and cell carriers but in the end I think it is worth it. I think having at least one completely Google controlled device on the market is good for Android as a whole.

But, I’m sure Verizon and Motorola are particularly upset — I think the future of both companies relies on Android — this news of a Google branded device is just a slap in the face.

Update 12/17/09: Engadget‘s Joshua Topolsky has written up a great piece regarding what we do and don’t know about the Google Phone. Kit Eaton writing for Fast Company has rundown the hardware specifications.

Update 12/20/09: tnkgrl Mobile managed to get some hands on time with the Nexus One. There’s a lot of new details here but some of the more interesting bits are that it’s faster than the Motorola DROID, has no multitouch support in the browser or in Google Maps, and the trackball can be used to focus the camera.

Update 12/26/09: Engadget claims to have the full tech specs on the Nexus One along with information regarding its release. From Chris Ziegler’s article:

Unfortunately, it sounds like you’re going to need to cross your fingers (or pull out that eBay emergency stash) to get one out of the gate, because we’ve got some intel here suggesting that it’ll be available only by “invitation” at first. Our tipster doesn’t have information on how those invites are going to be determined, other than the fact that it’s Google doing the inviting.

Gizmodo‘s Jason Chen managed to get some hands-on time with the Nexus One. Here’s what he had to say about the device’s speed compared to the DROID and the iPhone 3GS:

When comparing the three phones in loading a webpage over Wi-Fi, the Nexus One loaded first, the iPhone 3GS came in a few seconds later, and the Droid came in a little while after that. This was constant throughout many webpage loads, so it’s indicative of something going on inside with the hardware.

I ran all three through a Javascript benchmark engine for some quantifiable numbers, and while the results were similar between the Nexus One and the iPhone 3GS, the Droid still came up at about 60% of the other two. Surprisingly enough, Mobile Safari on the iPhone scored better on the Javscript benches than the Nexus did, even though the Nexus was able to pull down and render actual web pages faster.

Update 1/6/10: Google Nexus One

Google Chrome for Mac is finally available. bookmark syncing, multi-touch gestures, and extension support are still missing but they will be available in a later version.

I’ve spent a few hours with the browser and I think the design is interesting but the occasional crash and odd web page behavior is not my idea of a good browsing experience.

My current default browser is Firefox. I would be using Safari but since it still doesn’t have an “open new windows in a new tab instead” option I’m stuck using Firefox. When I was using Google Reader (and now with Fever) hitting the “V” key (or the right arrow key in Fever’s case) opens the currently selected item. Using Firefox with the aforementioned option turned on, the item opens up in a new tab, but using Safari it opens in a new window. I think we all can agree that the best practice would be for it to  open in a new tab.

Google Chrome – Download a new browser.

Andy Ihnatko has discovered that the recently-released Dragon Dictation for the iPhone doesn’t translate swear words.

Apparently, Dragon is perfectly fine with the concept of sucking (the Mets do it all the time, and most of those guys are millionaires). It’s also willing to give me the benefit of the doubt regarding a word that often describes roosters and what you must do with a revolver before you keep the little feathery bastard from ever waking you up before dawn ever again. But when you put those two words together, the Dragon collapses into the nearest fainting couch.

But the question remains, was this Dragon’s own doing or (like in the case of Ninjawords) was this demanded by Apple?

Andy Ihnatko’s Celestial Waste of Bandwidth (BETA) » The Seven Words You Can’t Say In A Dragon iPhone App.

An email was sent from iPhoneography reader “SCW” to Phil Schiller revealing that Molinker Inc.’s applications were filled with fake reviews and ratings.

From the email:

Please investigate for I have just looked at 44 of the reviewers who posted reviews for this Molinker Inc app “NightCam Pro” & EVERY Review except 2 of the 44+ are ALL FAKE 5 ★★★★★ reviews. (on my iPhone I could view more reviews but on my computer only 35 were visible & of the 35 visible 34 ARE fake). If you investigate ALL have ONLY reviewed ONLY Molinker apps. A little odd that 42 of 44 US reviews are poorly written & that all users have only written reviews for either All Molinker photography apps (giving 5 star reviews to 6-7 Molinker apps ONLY no other apps by any other developer) or the same 2 apps.

iPhoneography confirmed on Sunday that all of Molinker’s applications have been removed from the App Store. I’m glad that this issue was resolved. But, one has to wonder why Apple didn’t have any kind of fake-review-blocking system in place already.

iPhone Photography – iPhoneography, just another iPhone photography blog – Journal – Apple investigates possible US AppStore ratings scam.

The Boxee Box is a dedicated device that runs the Boxee app. It has one HDMI connector, optical audio output, composite audio output, ethernet, two USB ports, Wi-Fi, and an SD card slot.

The Boxee Box will sport their applications new beta user interface detailed just a few days ago.

I’ve never been a big fan of Boxee, I’ve been very happy using Front Row on my computer and my Apple TV in the living room. But, I appreciate that it’s around. I don’t think the Boxee Box is going to sell very well (I certainly don’t expect it to sell as well as the Apple TV) but I don’t see where else the company could go with their product. Without an easy way to get their app in the living room — it’s hard to convince the mass market to use the app.

D-Link The Boxee Box by D-Link.

Update 1/5/10: Engadget reports that the Boxee Box will cost $200 and will have Flash 10.1 support. Engadget includes the press release in their post but after looking through it, there’s no more specific price mentioned than “less than $200.” I’d say $199.99 is a pretty safe bet.

Reviews of the Barnes & Noble nook have started appearing from all the usual suspects. The general opinion is that although it is a decent device, it is slow and all of the differentiating features come with major caveats.

Barnes & Noble will be updating the nook’s software soon but for now here’s what the reviewers have to say.

David Pogue regarding the nook’s screens:

Worse, the touch screen is balky and nonresponsive, even for the Nook product manager who demonstrated it for me. The only thing slower than the color strip is the main screen above it. Even though it’s exactly the same E Ink technology that the Kindle and Sony Readers use, the Nook’s screen is achingly slower than the Kindle’s. It takes nearly three seconds to turn a page — three times longer than the Kindle — which is really disruptive if you’re in midsentence.

Wilson Rothman mentions a huge caveat to one of the nook’s biggest features:

Lending is another non-Kindle function rolling out this week that I’ll be following up on. You select a book from your collection, lend it to someone listed in your Nook contacts, and they receive a message via email and on their Nook’s “Daily” screen, where periodicals, offers and other notices show up. When they accept, they can read the book for two weeks. During that time, you can’t read it, and when it reverts back to you, they get a notice to buy. You can’t lend the same book to the same person twice.

Walt Mossberg regarding the size of the nook’s catalog compared to the Amazon Kindle’s:

Nook claims a catalog of just over one million digital books, versus 389,000 for the Kindle. But this is somewhat misleading, because over half of the Nook catalog is made up of free out-of-copyright titles published before 1923, the vast majority of which are likely to be of little interest to average readers. Barnes & Noble refuses to say how many modern commercial titles it offers, or even whether it has more or fewer of these than Amazon (AMZN).

Joshua Topolsky has this to say about the nook’s user interface:

At first blush, the Nook’s user interface and navigation is a bit overwhelming. If you’re coming off of any traditional reader, even one as complex as the Kindle, what Barnes & Noble offers seems far more daunting. Aside from having to learn a completely new way of getting around, adding that dual screen interaction to the mix is rather confusing when you first flip the switch. The foundations of the UI aren’t hard to understand, but if you walk into the device without knowing your way around, you’ll end up feeling pretty lost at first.

I was excited about the use of two screens to interact with an e-book reader. Using a touchscreen LCD to navigate menus and an e-ink display to show text sounds like the best of both worlds, but unless Barnes & Noble can find a better way to implement this it doesn’t sound like it’s going to be a hit with consumers.

But, the biggest downfall of the nook to me is the lack of web browser. The Kindle’s browser isn’t perfect but since my main use for such a device would be to read text from the web, having a web browser is a huge win.

Previously:
10/22/09: Barnes & Noble ‘nook’
10/17/09: Barnes and Noble E-Book Reader

Update 12/20/09: Barnes & Noble Sending $100 Gift Certificates to nook Pre-Orderers

Keeping in mind that Arrington didn’t file for the CrunchPad trademark until November 17, 2009 (the same day he claims to have received the email from Fusion Garage CEO), on Monday Fusion Garage announced the JooJoo Tablet.

We’ve heard their side of the story and, the way they tell it, the device was already in the works when TechCrunch published their post about the idea. They also claim that Michael Arrington and his crew made zero contributions to the project.

The device boots straight into the browser (much like Google Chrome OS) weighs 2.4 pounds, has only one physical button, boots in 9 seconds, it has a 12.1-inch capacitive touchscreen, and 5 hours of battery life. Pre-orders of the device start on December 11 with a price tag of $499 (not exactly the $200-300 we were hoping for, but that price was truly unrealistic).

Engadget had some hands-on time with the device in which they revealed that it does have Bluetooth with support for external keyboards, mice, and headsets. In their hands-on video Rathakrishnan demoed playback of 1080p video from YouTube which Engadget’s Ross Miller described as “smooth.”

The Joo Joo.

Previously:
12/4/09: Fusion Garage Will Reveal CrunchPad Details This Monday
12/1/09: The CrunchPad’s Bizarre Ending

Update 12/12/09: TechCrunch has filed their lawsuit over the CrunchPad (now JooJoo) tablet. They’ve published the filing on the aforelinked piece along with some additional thoughts from Michael Arrington. I still haven’t decided who I believe in this whole situation, I can see both sides happening and honest, I don’t know who to believe.

If you’d like to hear some more about the JooJoo tablet and Fusion Garage’s side of the story, Engadget’s Joshua Topolsky had a discussion with Chandra Rathakrishnan, a video of which has been published on Engadget.

Update 12/12/09: Not only are pre-orders now available (due to litigation, pre-order at your own risk), but Fusion Garage has released more press shots of the device and announced the JooJoo Stand.

Update 12/20/09: Dan Frommer reports for Silicon Alley Insider that Fusion Garage has responded to Michael Arrington’s lawsuit. Long story short: Michael Arrington is a liar.

In another interesting turn of events, Fusion Garage is violating PayPal’s terms with their JooJoo tablet pre-orders. From PayPal’s terms:

You also agree not to use your PayPal account to sell goods with delivery dates delayed more than 20 days from the date of payment

Apple recently acquired Lala, a streaming music service that allows users to listen to their music libraries from the cloud.

Apple isn’t purchasing Lala for its licenses, as they are not transferable to any acquirer. Apple is likely after Lala’s engineers who could help them build some sort of music streaming feature for iTunes.

An unnamed source spoke with Reuters regarding iTunes streaming:

Apple recognizes that the model is going to evolve into a streaming one and this could probably propel iTunes to the next level.

Yukari Iwatani Kane of the Wall Street Journal also believes that Apple will transition to streaming music through iTunes.

The key vehicle for the move is Apple’s newly acquired music-streaming service La La Media Inc. for which Apple paid $85 million, according to people familiar with the matter. Where Apple’s iTunes requires users to download music onto a specific computer, Lala.com lets users buy and listen to music through a Web browser, meaning its customers can access purchases from anywhere, as long as they are connected to the Internet.

Apple is considering adopting that same model for songs sold on iTunes, a change that would give consumers more ways to access and manage their iTunes purchases—and wouldn’t require them to download Apple’s software or their purchases.

I expect Apple to continue requiring users download iTunes in order to purchase and stream music, but it’s obvious that media consumption is changing and Apple isn’t one to sit back while others innovate.

Maynard J. Um of UBS Investment Research (reported by AppleInsider) ties this acquisition to Apple’s $1 billion server farm in North Carolina. Apple’s use for such a server farm has been a topic of discussion since we learned of it this summer, but I would expect Apple wouldn’t have known about the acquisition of Lala until after the server farm deal had been done. My guess is that Apple had already planned to build a streaming feature into iTunes and decided to purchase some talent that had already built a similar service.

The future of Lala is unclear. But, I’m curious about what will happen to users who purchased the right to stream songs for 10 cents a piece. My guess is that those songs won’t be available for too much longer.

Apple to Buy the Music Start-Up Lala – NYTimes.com.

Update 12/10/09: The Wall Street Journal reports that Google was in serious discussions to acquire Lala before Apple eventually purchased the company for $85 million. They also say that Google is buying music services to compete with Apple’s iTunes business.

Apple and Google’s relationship is getting weirder and weirder.

Google has acquired AppJet, the makers of EtherPad. EtherPad is a “realtime collaborative text editing” service.

Google originally planned to just close EtherPad’s doors but after AppJet heared feedback from their users they have decided to continue running EtherPad until the source code could be released.

We are working with the Google Wave team to get all EtherPad users a chance to try out the Google Wave preview within the next couple of weeks. We do realize (as does the Google Wave team) that Wave doesn’t yet have all the functionality you rely on, and isn’t yet as mature as EtherPad. We are confident that in the long term you will be really happy with Google Wave, though. That’s why we decided to join them!

I had never heard of EtherPad before this announcement but it seems like the perfect fit for Google Wave. I still don’t plan on using Wave but I hope that this acquisition will bring a great product to those who do use it.

EtherPad Blog: Google Acquires AppJet.

Update 12/20/09: EtherPad is now open source, visit the Google Code page for more information.

In a report on the release of “Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes – Encore,” Joystiq casually mentioned that Apple had dropped support for iPod click wheel games.

Rather than being a simple touchscreen-enabled port of the original click wheel game, the iPhone Song Summoner contains both Song Summoner and Song Summoner 2, which was never released due to Apple ending support for click wheel games.

Previously released iPod click wheel games are still available in the iTunes Store but the end of support should come as no surprise. It’s clear that moving forward, Apple will be focusing on games for the iPhone and iPod touch.

Song Summoner mining iPhone playlists this week.

MacRumor’s Arnold Kim reports that Apple has gained control of the “TabletMac” trademark. Axiotron originally owned the trademark and used it to sell their Modbook product.

Transfer in ownership doesn’t implicitly mean that they will be releasing a tablet, it’s entirely possible that they are doing so to avoid confusion with Apple’s own trademarks.

Another recent tablet rumor comes from Diggnation co-host Alex Albrecht. During episode 231 (the relevant bits start at roughly the 24 minute mark) of Diggnation Kevin Rose asked guest John Hodgman if he knew anything about the tablet. Hodgman replied: “you think they’d tell me?”

Shortly after that exchange Kevin revealed that Alex had heard something about the tablet. After some convincing, Alex eventually conceded: “I was shocked at how cheap the price point is going to be.”

Alex declined to elaborate but just based on Kevin’s track record (which is hit and miss) there’s no way of knowing how credible Alex’s information is.

Previously:
11/22/09: DigiTimes’ Tablet Rumor
10/7/09: Apple Tablet Coming in Q1 2010
8/24/09: Steve Jobs Has Been Focusing on the Tablet

Update 12/28/09: Apple Tablet May be Announced in January

Stewart Alsop regarding the Motorola DROID handset:

The hardware (which is Motorola’s) mostly works. The keyboard is horrible and I’ve never used it, which means that it is a real design flaw given how much weight and mechanical operation it adds to the device. (The software keyboard works well enough that I’ve found it adequate but the other problems with the software make it barely useable.) The camera button on my Droid doesn’t work and never has, so I call up the camera from the home screen. The on-off button is poorly placed for one-handed operation and requires real force to actuate. But this is just version 1.0 issues that Motorola will likely fix next time out.

So, a non-functioning camera button and a poorly designed on-off button is a 1.0 issue? I’m not sure if that’s the case given that the company who designs the DROID has been making cell phones for over 26 years.

I agree with Alsop on all of his other points regarding the DROID’s software but I think the hardware deserves more criticism. It’s almost as if he’s given Motorola a free pass to manufacture terrible hardware.

Droid Doesn’t: It’s Not Ready For Prime Time · Alsop Louie Partners.

Previously:
11/18/09: DROID’s Autofocus Breaks Every 24.5 Days
11/12/09: DROID Limited to 256MB of App Storage
10/29/09: Motorola DROID

Update 12/20/09: The Motorola DROID has some serious hardware shortcomings, and apparently, the only solution Verizon has is to put a band-aid on it. Flickr user Anticitizen published an image of a Verizon sticker on the back of his DROID. From the images caption:

Took my phone to the Verizon store, and this is their solution.

It’s better than what the original rep tried to do, which is put scotch tape on it.

IMO, for a $200 phone, this is unacceptable.

Patrick Hoge of the San Francisco Business Times reports that the company that screwed Michael Arrington on the CrunchPad, Fusion Garage, will be holding a video call with reporters and industry analysts on Monday.

Chandrasekar “Chandra” Rathakrishnan, founder and CEO of Fusion Garage, will speak to reporters and demonstrate “the device” both in a video call and in private briefings scheduled for later Monday at the St. Regis Hotel in San Francisco, said Megan Alpers of San Jose-based McGrath/Power Public Relations.

I’m sure we’ll hear their side of the story.

Meanwhile Michael Arrington claims that Fusion Garage still hasn’t returned any of his calls or emails. Arrington has published two letters from their law firm to Fusion Garage regarding the imminent litigation.

What I find odd about this whole situation is that, if the CrunchPad was indeed just three days away from launch, wouldn’t it be likely that any other “inventor” of such a device would just publish specifications, images, and maybe even video of the device, before Fusion Garage even had a chance to move forward? I don’t think anyone should buy a device from someone who paints such a dreary picture of the future of his product. He hasn’t even mentioned the idea that it could eventually be released.

His initial post regarding this ordeal was entitled “The End Of The CrunchPad.”

Previously:
12/1/09: The CrunchPad’s Bizarre Ending

Update 12/10/09: Fusion Garage Announces the JooJoo Tablet

OpenDNS founder David Ulevitch:

Google claims that this service is better because it has no ads or redirection. But you have to remember they are also the largest advertising and redirection company on the Internet. To think that Google’s DNS service is for the benefit of the Internet would be naive. They know there is value in controlling more of your Internet experience and I would expect them to explore that fully. And of course, we always have protected user privacy and have never sold our DNS data.

It’s clear to me that David Ulevitch is upset about Google’s announcement. OpenDNS redirects you when you make mistakes typing a URL, it also shows you ads when you try to visit a web site that doesn’t exist. That’s exactly why I quit using OpenDNS, Google is making the right decision in releasing this product and I’m happy to use it.

In regards to why Google is releasing it, Jason Kottke nails it:

There’s been a bunch of speculation as to why Google is offering this service for free but the reason is pretty simple: they want to speed up people’s Google search results.

The more web pages people are able to view the more money Google makes.

Previously:
12/3/09: Google Public DNS

Today Google announced their own public DNS resolver. I had been jumping back and forth between OpenDNS and my ISP’s default DNS, needless to say I haven’t been happy with either of them. Google has been on this kick of attempting to speed up web browsing for their users and this is the next piece to the puzzle.

Switching to Google’s DNS server is very easy, it only took me about 3 minutes, and from what I can tell it’s well worth it.

Their DNS server is focused on speed and security, if you’d like to take a look at their privacy policy it can be found here. It’s easy to read and reasonable.

Google Code Blog: Introducing Google Public DNS: A new DNS resolver from Google.

Update 12/4/09: Ulevitch and Jason Kottke on Google DNS

Michael Arrington says that he and his team got screwed by Fusion Garage just a few days before they planned to debut the device. Fusion Garage wants to cut Arrington out completely and sell the device themselves.

Arrington’s team plans on filing multiple lawsuits against Fusion Garage and he hopes that “the legal system will work it all out over time.”

It seems that James Kendrick was right when he claimed back in April that the CrunchPad “may not ever appear on the market.” His reasoning was incorrect though, Arrington did have everything in line, until he was screwed by his manufacturing partner.

The CrunchPad is dead. I never planned on buy it, but I’m still a little disappointed.

The End Of The CrunchPad.

Previously:
11/17/09: The Current State of the CrunchPad
7/31/09: CrunchPad Specs Revealed
4/14/09: James Kendrick Claims CrunchPad May Not Happen, With No Evidence

Update 12/4/09: Fusion Garage Will Reveal CrunchPad Details This Monday

Update 12/10/09: Fusion Garage Announces the JooJoo Tablet

The current jQTouch beta features image preloading, callback events, swipe detection, and extensions.

From the description:

A jQuery plugin for mobile web development on the iPhone,
iPod Touch, and other forward-thinking devices.

The demos look fantastic. I suggest trying them out on your iPhone, it’s worth the few minutes, especially for the animations. And, although web apps will never be on par with native apps, this proves how close they can get. I’m sure there are a lot of apps that could be built using jQTouch rather than going through the App Store.

Unfortunately there will never be a drop-dead simple commerce solution for web apps.

jQTouch — jQuery plugin for mobile web development.

According to a recent Apple job posting, they are looking to hire an iPhone software engineer to help them “take Maps to the next level.”

From the job description:

The iPhone has revolutionized the mobile industry and has changed people’s lives and we want to continue to do so. We want to take Maps to the next level, rethink how users use Maps and change the way people find things. We want to do this in a seamless, highly interactive and enjoyable way. We’ve only just started.

The specificity of this job description is interesting. But, this it is especially interesting given the current status of Apple and Google’s relationship.

Apple acquired mapping company, PlaceBase a few months ago and will likely be using their maps in future iPhone mapping apps, leaving Google out in the cold.

Apple has always developed their mapping application in-house, only collaborating on Google in terms of hooking into their Maps API (likely in a closer way than many other applications are allowed, I’m sure there is a lot of communication between Apple and Google during this apps development). But, since Apple developed the app themselves they could relatively easily switch their source for maps without wasting a lot of time redeveloping aspects of the application.

Apple – Jobs at Apple – Job description.

Previously:
10/4/09: Apple and Google Slowly Parting Ways

Arnold Kim:

iPhone developer Pandav has informed MacRumors that they have spotted usage records for an unreleased iPhone in their app’s analytics. The app used was iBART, a public transportation guide for the San Francisco train system.

References to iPhone3,1 were first found in iPhone firmware files back in August.

It’s not odd for app developers to find unreleased Apple products in their analytics data. But, I’m a little surprised that Apple is testing the next iPhone so early.

Apple Starts Field Testing Next Generation iPhone (3,1) – Mac Rumors.

Previously:
8/7/09: Latest iPhone OS 3.1 Beta Contains Reference to ‘iProd1,1’

Apple, regarding the distribution of iTunes LP and iTunes Extras:

Automatic, electronic submission of your iTunes LP or Extra is scheduled for the first quarter of 2010. Until then, the submission process is manual and limited. Please contact your label or studio rep for details and consideration. An existing iTunes contract is required. Your iTunes LP or iTunes Extras will be reviewed by the iTunes team for appropriateness of content and for technical quality.

This has the potential to become another App Store. But, since there is no copy protection on iTunes LP and Extras, content creators should be able to release their Extras and LPs on the web, bypassing Apple and iTunes entirely.

Apple – iTunes – iTunes LP and iTunes Extras.

Previously:
10/14/09: Build Your Own iTunes LPs
9/15/09: iTunes LP and Extras Destined for the Apple TV
7/27/09: Apple’s Project ‘Cocktail’ Coming in September

Update 12/8/09: The Boy Genius Report cites a source of theirs that claims that iDVD will be gaining iTunes LP creation support in an upcoming release (most likely with the new iLife suite). With DVDs becoming less and less relevant — this makes a lot of sense, however I would expect that (if true) Apple would change the name of iDVVD with this release.

Apple’s one-day sale has hit the US store. There you can get great deals on iPods, like the iPod nano starting at $138 or the iPod touch starting at $178. You can get great deals on Macs too, with the MacBook Pro starting at $1,098 or the iMac starting at $1,098. There’s also deals on the Apple TV, Time Capsule, and a whole slew of Mac accessories.

But, why would you buy from the Apple store when you could get a better deal at Amazon?

Amazon’s Apple store currently has the MacBook Pro for $1,049, the iPod nano for $134.99, and the new MacBook for $884.98. Shop from this link (for anything on Amazon) and I’ll get a kickback.

Previously:
11/24/09: Apple’s One-Day Shopping Event

John Gruber nails it with his interpretation of BusinessWeek’s interview with Phil Schiller:

The most interesting thing about Arik Hesseldahl’s interview with Schiller for BusinessWeek isn’t anything that Schiller says, but that the interview exists at all.

The fact is people are upset, not just developers, but users too. I still think that the majority of users have an abundance of goodwill towards Apple, regardless of Apple’s habit of silly rejections. But, Apple needs to be aware that goodwill only lasts so long when you treat developers and users like this.

Although the most interesting part of this interview is that it exists at all, the contents are still worth reading through.

Phil Schiller compares the App Store approval process to a retailer deciding what products will be on its shelves:

Whatever your favorite retailer is, of course they care about the quality of products they offer. We review the applications to make sure they work as the customers expect them to work when they download them.

It’s hard to argue with this point; I haven’t downloaded a single application that didn’t work the way I expected it to. That could be because of how careful I am at deciding what application to purchase, but I think a lot of it is due to Apple’s approval process.

That’s not to say I agree with the approval process. Today, the approval process is a mess and things get rejected that shouldn’t. And although Apple usually fixes those slip ups, the fact that they happen is enough to upset the whole iPhone community, including myself. The Airfoil Speakers Touch fiasco is a perfect example. Schiller didn’t directly address Airfoil Speakers, but he does talk about making trademark guidelines more sophisticated.

We need to delineate something that might confuse the customer and be an inappropriate use of a trademark from something that’s just referring to a product for the sake of compatibility. We’re trying to learn and expand the rules to make it fair for everyone.

Since Rogue Amoeba made the whole ordeal public, they have submitted a version with the icons and images intact and it has been approved by Apple. I would have liked to see the application approved much earlier, but at least it has been.

Apple is moving much slower than we all would like at fixing the problems with the App Store. We shouldn’t stop complaining (it seems that this is what has forced Apple to change), but we should at least admit that they are moving in the right direction and have shown a commitment to solving these issues.

Apple’s Schiller Defends iPhone App Approval Process – BusinessWeek.

Previously:
11/15/09: High Profile Developers Abandoning the iPhone

Aside from the new 64-bit version of the app, which encodes video about 10% faster than the 32-bit version, HandBrake has seen a slew of interesting and much needed improvements.

HandBrake now uses a new DVD reading library which will allow it to read some DVDs that it had trouble with before. The app is also focusing on quality-based encoding, explained best on HandBrake’s website:

This means that instead of telling encoders to use a specific size and vary quality to meet it, we tell the encoder to vary size to meet a given quality level. Overall quality improves, since bits are spent only when they are needed, and are saved when they are not. While this means output size is somewhat unpredictable, the results in picture quality speak for themselves.

Hard drives are cheap and the boost in quality will be greatly appreciated. The release notes also say that 2-pass encoding is no longer needed.

A single pass at a constant quality provides just as much compression efficiency as two passes at an average bitrate.

The developers have decided to simplify the applications default presets, that means no more PSP, PS3, Xbox 360, Film, etc. presets, there is now a “Normal” and a “High Profile” preset, both should work on device that supports standard Main Profile H.264 with AAC-LC audio in an MP4 file.

The new version has also received some changes to the user interface. Overall this update is fantastic, I’m not too happy with the placement of the deinterlace options but I’m willing to forgive them because of all the other improvements. I can say for certain that encode times have improved and that alone makes the one year development time worth it.

HandBrake.

Update 12/20/09: VLC is Looking for Mac Developers

It should come as no surprise that iPhone jailbreakers who turn on SSH and don’t change the default password are at risk.

Chester Wisniewski regarding the worm:

It configures two startup scripts, one to execute the worm on boot-up, and the other to create a connection to a Lithuanian server (HTTP) to upload stolen data and cede control to the bot master. Security.nl also says that the worm changes the root password from the default of “alpine” that Apple set in the factory firmware, making it more difficult for users to secure their devices. The recommended method to remove this malware from your iPhone is to restore the Apple factory firmware using iTunes.

Remember that the only users at risk are those who have jailbroken their devices, turned on SSH, and have neglected to change its default password.

The Loop spoke with Apple spokesperson, Natalie Harrison about the worm:

The worm affects only a very specific set of iPhone users who have jail broken their iPhones and hacked it with unauthorized software. As we’ve said before, the vast majority of customers do not jailbreak their iPhones, and for good reason. These hacks not only violate the warranty, they will also cause the iPhone to become unstable and not work reliably.

I happen to agree with Natalie, I jailbroke my iPod touch a month ago and ended up restoring its firmware because of the increase in crashes. But, in the mean time I spent a couple of days playing around with all the jailbreak apps. During that time I came to one conclusion: aside from tethering, the only reason to jailbreak your device is to pirate App Store apps. Because of that, I find it difficult to support those who jailbreak their device.

CNET reports that Sergey Brin, speaking informally to reporters, said the following:

Android and Chrome will likely converge over time.

Many believe that this would going in the right direction, I’m not sure if that’s the case. The only way for Chrome OS and Android to converge is if one (or both) of them lose their vision. The point behind Chrome OS is that every app is a web app. Android is the first viable smartphone OS that is completely customizable, with an open source core and of course, apps.

If these two operating system converge you’ll get nothing more than a watered down version of both, you’ll get a poor OS cobbled together from two somewhat viable alternatives.

With the iPhone, Apple made one of the smartest moves I’ve ever seen a company do, they took their desktop operating system and broke it down to its essential parts to run on a handheld device. Google is going in a completely different direction. Not only have they decided not to reuse parts from their existing OS, they’ve decided to write a completely new OS, splitting their developers into two camps, Android and Chrome OS.

With that logic you could say that converging the two would be a wise move, but I don’t think that’s true. Rather than merge the two operating systems into one down the road, Google needs to make a decision. They can either scrap Chrome OS entirely using Android on netbooks in its place or throw out all of the bits below the browser in Chrome OS and replace them with Android. It is entirely possible that Google could do the latter (which is obviously the better choice) down the road but why not deal with all of that now. Chrome OS is still relatively early in development, I can’t imagine the nightmare of having to replace the core of an OS after it has already been established in the marketplace.

The truth is, Chrome OS should be built on Android, and the fact that it isn’t makes me question whether Google is really taking either one of these projects seriously. The real test will come in 2-3 years when we find out whether Google employees have chosen to eat their own dog food.

Brin: Google’s OSes likely to converge | Webware – CNET.

Previously:
11/20/09: Google Officially Demos Chrome OS
7/8/09: Google Announces a Linux Distro and the World Goes Mad

Apple has announced their one-day shopping event. The event will take place this Friday, November 27.

Apple hasn’t released what discounts will be available, simply stating:

Come back to the Apple Online Store the day after Thanksgiving for a special one-day-only holiday shopping event.

The Boy Genius Report claims to have received information from a “pretty credible connect” detailing the discounts for this Friday. It’s hard to tell if the leak is genuine but the listed discounts seem reasonable.

One-Day Apple Shopping Event – Apple Store (U.S.).

Update 11/27/09: Apple’s one-day shopping event has hit the US store and the Boy Genius Report’s “connect” was spot on. Also, Amazon is having deals on Apple products today. Not only are some of their sales even better than Apple’s, if you follow the above link and purchase anything on Amazon I’ll get a kickback.

Daryl Deino reporting for the Examiner:

We have heard from an inside source who claims the camera version of the iPod Touch 3G will be released this Spring. The source confirms to us that the iPod Touch 3G with camera had actually been planned for release this past September, but had problems passing quality control. […] The iPod Touch 3G with camera will allegedly have the same camera as the updated iPod Nano, which shoots video, but not still pictures.

There was a lot of evidence that Apple had planned to release an iPod touch with a camera when they refreshed their iPod lineup in September. This latest rumor claims that the iPod touch will get a camera, but only a video camera. I can understand why they put a non-still camera in the iPod nano, but why the iPod touch? The only answer I can come up with is: differentiation.

Apple to release iPod Touch with camera this Spring?.

Previously:
9/13/09: Covino & Rich iPod touch Was Real
9/10/09: The New iPod Lineup

Apple has added a new layer to the App Store approval process. Applications are now being put through a static analysis tool that checks for private API calls.

Gizmodo’s John Herrman gives an informative explanation on the differences between public and private APIs. But, in short, developers aren’t allowed to use private APIs in iPhone applications.

Up until now, Apple hasn’t been enforcing this rule. Now, some applications that had previously been approved are getting flagged for their use of private APIs.

One popular open source framework, Joe Hewitt’s Three20, is a little loose when it comes to private APIs. As a result, developers using the framework (whether they actually make use of private APIs or not) are getting flagged. Some developers have already started working on a branch of the Three20 project that is free of private API calls.

I think it is wise for Apple to use such a tool, but it would help if they used it much earlier in the application approval process, this would allow developers to quickly fix a (hopefully) small oversight in coding which happened to use private APIs.

The only thing we have to worry about now is false positives.

iPhone Apps Have to Be Approved by Robots Now, Too – app store – Gizmodo.

Update 12/17/09: Apple Relaxing Private API Restrictions

Reuters is reporting that Gameloft and others have cut back on the development of Android applications.

Gameloft finance director Alexandre de Rochefort:

It is not as neatly done as on the iPhone. Google has not been very good to entice customers to actually buy products. On Android nobody is making significant revenue.

Rochefort also reveals that they are selling “400 times more games on iPhone than on Android.” That’s pretty strong numbers for the iPhone, and if this is any indication of how well Android is doing, it’s not doing that well.

Gameloft says it, others reining in Android plans | Technology | Reuters.

Magellan has released its RoadMate 2010 North America application for the iPhone and iPod touch.

The application’s most interesting features include:

• OneTouch Favorites Menu
• Spoken Street Name Guidance
• Address Book Integration
• In-app Music Control

Magellan is also planning to release a car kit to compete with TomTom’s. Their Premium Car Kit will have a fully adjustable rotating mount, enhanced GPS signal with its built-in receiver, and a noise-canceling speakerphone with Bluetooth hands-free calling.

Magellan’s RoadMate application is available now for the introductory price of $79.99. Their Car Kit is coming soon but no exact release date or pricing has been announced.

There have been several GPS navigation apps in the App Store but now that there are two big names (Magellan and TomTom) in the game the competition will really start to heat up.

Magellan RoadMate 2010 North America – $79.99
Magellan Premium Car Kit

Update 11/30/09: The Magellan Premium GPS Car Kit has shown up on Amazon. The price is $129.99 and the product page says that it will be released on December 11, 2009.

DigiTimes claims that Apple has postponed the launch of their tablet device. The rumored deadline of early 2010 has supposedly been pushed back to the second half of 2010. The reason given for the release getting pushed back is due to significant changes to the display components. But, this is what makes me question the rumor:

The sources also indicated that in addition to Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry), Quanta Computer and Pegatron Technology are expected to be manufacturing partners for Apple’s two tablet PC models – one of which will have a 10.6-inch TFT LCD panel while the other will have a 9.7-inch OLED panel. However, the sources did not explain how production for the two models would be split between the three makers.

I’ve always taken DigiTimes’ rumors with a grain of salt but when they claim that Apple is going to have two different sized tablets whose display sizes are only one inch apart, I have to throw the whole report out the window.

It’s not crazy to think that Apple has ordered both display sizes but to assume that both of them will make it to market is just dumb.

Apple tablet PC reportedly delayed until 2H10, with OLED model now included.

Update 12/8/09: ‘TabletMac’ Trademark and Apple Tablet Pricing

Update 12/28/09: Apple Tablet May be Announced in January

Update 1/6/10: Apple May Ship Tablet in March

Despite Google’s head of Android development, Andy Rubin denying such rumors, Michael Arrington believes that Google will be building their own branded phone that they will sell directly through retailers.

Arrington says that most of his sources have “unconfirmed information” but he believes that the device is coming. His sources say that it will be coming early next year and will be produced by a major phone manufacturer (maybe LG or Samsung) but will only have Google branding.

Either Andy Rubin is a liar or Michael Arrington is totally wrong, I’m currently leaning towards the latter.

But, it is in Arrington’s followup piece where he could be getting a little closer to something I could believe.

But there may be another way Google will argue that they aren’t “competing with customers” by launching their own device – technically, it may not be a phone.

The Google Phone may be a data only, VoIP driven device. And Google may be lining up at least AT&T to provide those data services for the Google Phone, says one person we spoke with today.

The concept is simple, you just pay for a data plan. Your phone number and voicemail would be provided by Google Voice, while your calls and SMS messages would go over IP. You would no longer pay based on how many minutes you need per month, just a low cost data plan and you’re out the door.

I just don’t know if the US carriers would go for it. They are so concerned with their network, I doubt they would be on board with anything that would bring in less profit and more data usage.

Previously:
10/31/09: Google Has No Android Hardware Plans

Update 11/30/09: Gizmodo’s Mark Wilson is citing a “trusted source who’s seen it with their own eyes, the Google Phone ‘is a certainty.’”