iOS Devices

According to AppAdvice, the iBookStore will be selling New York Times Best Sellers for $9.99.  

It isn’t certain if the publishers are still working within the 70/30 Agency model

After a short two-year wait since the last major version of Microsoft’s Messenger for Mac shipped (Version 7 shipped for Tiger in April 2008), it looks like Microsoft has made the first public betas of version 8 available (download link). A “crashier” version was leaked earlier this week but this one appears to be somewhat stable. 

New features in version 8 include audio and video chat capabilities.  OK, that’s it.

Microsoft notes (PDF) that some features don’t work in this beta including: File transfers, Video Audio Chat for corporate accounts, and Audio/Video calls on many network configurations.  (not a joke, read the PDF)

All of that, in just two years.

Right.  Going back to Adium.

StyleTap lets you turn your Jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch into a Palm device.  With almost 200,000 apps on the iPhone, we’re not exactly sure why you’d want such a thing, especially at $49 after 14-day free trial, but there it is.  

On App emulation on the iPhone: We know Apple frowns on this and we can see why

Update: As expected, it is out.

While we wait and see what happens with Opera in the App Store, Mashable says Digg will have its app in the App Store tomorrow.  Kevin Rose hinted about the app last year.  Is it me or is Digg starting to lose relevance now that Twitter and Facebook are moving so quickly into its realm?  

Anyway, if you are still a Digg user, get ready for this, tomorrow:

UPDATE: As promised, the Digg app appeared in the store tonight and can be found here.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2lPlXHXoVE&w=700&h=400]

Some new information has come to light on Opera Mini.  Search page, save page for offline viewing and it is going to be free.  

Apple?  What say you?

http://www.viddler.com/simple_on_site/806002fd

Sprint today took the wraps off what is now the most hardcore Android phone out there, the Sprint HTC EVO 4G.  Nexus One and Droid are both now second class citizens

Oooops, double post. Go here

It looks like AT&T is creating a separate, secure Web browser (with all types of controls and offline access) for accessing enterprise apps remotely.

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Steve Jobs has been on a user email rampage of late.  Its gotten to the point that it has become a new means of controlled leaks and communication for Apple as a company.  See previous here, here, here.

The latest emails, sent from his iPad Build 7B359, say that there will be a way to import docs (from iDisk or iWork.com) into iWork on the iPad and the iPad/iPod/iPhone’s Mail.app will eventually have Universal inbox functionality (via TUAW).  

Universal inbox functionality is something we’ve been really hoping for, but it is unlikely to be in 3.2 as that’s mostly an incremental update and and a Mail.app rewrite would seem to indicate a new version of the OS.  We’re holding out hope however, that we’ll see it in 3.2.

It would also appear that Steve Jobs is not an early adopter.  Build 7B359 one build behind the current iPad 3.2 beta 5 build.

Update: Appleinsider is getting in on the action a little late with word from Jobs that AT&T won’t carry the iPad initially.  They’ll probably join in when a 3G iPad is available in late April on their network (OK, that’s obvious)  Jobs said:

“Initially at Apple Retail and online stores and Best Buy,”

Spiegel profiles a German iPad clone called the WePad.  It runs on Intel Atom, has USB and Adobe Flash capabilities and 6 hours of battery life.  Seems a lot like the Joojoo?  

Elite Gadget reviewers are getting their hands on iPads on Thursday (or shipped Thursday) says the Silicon Alley Insider‘s sources.  That gives them about a week to review the units and get their reviews ready for launch. 

Speaking of which, those who ordered theirs for delivery on April 3rd should start to get notifications on thair Apple order status at the end of this week.

Opera Mini has been submitted to the App Store.  Opera hopes to help browsing speeds by sending traffic through its severs which compress webpages.  The iPhone would then pick up the webpages as compressed Opera files and display them at rates which Opera believes to be up to five times as fast as Mobile Safari.  Seems to work pretty well on low speed networks    Check out the video below.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpTCS3g-cBY&w=700&h=400]

The video is certainly more impressive than their previous effort.  But will Apple let Opera Mini into the App Store? via E’s

Oslo, Norway

MacRumors is reporting that MacBook Pro supplies have become constrained…

MacRumors has heard that the MacBook Pro supplies to retailers have abruptly become constrained, possibly suggesting that updates could be imminent.

…and that Steve Jobs has replied to someone who asked about MacBook Pro delivery dates:

“I recognise the need for secrecy etc but I am really losing heart in the lack of vision for the MBP and Mac Pros. Not expecting a response but as someone who has personally switched dozens of people onto the mac way this is a sad email for me to compose.”

Jobs replies:

“Not to worry.”

Translation: “Buck up little camper, your money will be mine soon enough”.  FWIW, the Apple’s Online store is fully stocked with current model MacBook Pros.

As of today, you no longer need an AT&T plan to purchase an iPhone at an Apple Store.   Apple’s new policy is that anyone can walk into an Apple Store and pick up an iPhone 8GB for $499, 16GB for $599 and 32GB for $699.  They will allow one unit per customer per day up to 10 iPhones.

The iPhones are still locked to AT&T’s network so unless you are going to jailbreak it (and I guess that is the assumption), you are still on AT&T.

Apple did this last year as well.  AT&T, for their part, are again selling refurbished iPhones at a $50 discount.

Update: An Apple Store Employee has confirmed the new plan and will be selling iPhones from the store this way at one unit per person per day. According to the employee we talked to, they would still be officially tied to AT&T, “but everyone knows it takes 2 minutes to unlock them”.

Update 2: Gizmodo got the official doc, above:

Google left China today and will stop censoring its Chinese search results. While it is a monster step for the world’s biggest search engine, it doesn’t mean the end of the world for Google in China.

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The pie charts below say it all.  The iPhone OS (including iPod touch) is making significant headway into the PSP and to a lesser extent, the Nintendo DS’s revenue streams.  The numbers have to be especially painful for Sony who had four times as much revenue as Apple in 2008 which dropped to just over half of Apple’s revenue in 2009.

With the iPad set to be released in coming weeks around the globe, the iPhone OS is poised to grab even more of that Portable Gaming revenue.

When console games are added, the iPhoneOS still commands 5% of the market compared to 1% in 2008.

Today Apple announced that iTunes users now have the ability to gift apps to one another. The process is exactly the same as gifting a song. You must use your credit card on the account and cannot use gift cards or any other types of promotional payment to gift apps.

In order for the feature to be activated, you must sign into your iTunes account and accept the new terms policy. All you have to do is click the ‘gift app’ button as shown in the screenshots above (before and after agreeing to the new terms of the deal).

From Apple:

The changes we have made to the terms and conditions include the following:

We already knew about the Palms and we also know that AT&T had some more Android phones coming down the pipe, but the first US phone from Dell?  There isn’t much information on the rebadged Chinese Mini 3, but speculation is that it will be another outdated Android 1.x version phone on AT&T’s network.

This is the best bit, however:

“Dell Aero: Introducing, the Aero, an Android-based smartphone from Dell! This will be Dell