While it's not a replacement for the Amazon Kindle, ZappTek today announced Legends, an ebook service for iPhone and iPod touch. The Legends service will be available in the App Store on July 11th, with pricing of $1.99 for short stories and $4.99 for novels.
ZappTek plans on partnering with "today's hottest writers" to distribute new fiction using Legends to bring the reading experience to iPhone / iPod Touch 2.0. Each book appears as an icon on the Home screen, and the books automatically re-open to the last page you were reading. You can also bookmark or annotate any page.
Both landscape and portrait reading modes are available by rotating the iPhone, and you can invert the display (white characters on black background) by triple-tapping. Double-tapping zooms in on text.
To start off, ZappTek is making a number of short stories and novels by New York Times bestselling author Michael A. Stackpole available. Many other authors will be joining Legends soon.
If you're a voracious reader, be sure to try out Legends this Friday!
Apple has just updated the .Mac status page with the date/time of the .Mac to MobileMe switch. So, for those of you wondering when Apple might start the switch will not have to wonder any longer. July 9th from 6 p.m. until 12 a.m. PT is the scheduled date and time.
Apple says that during the switch, users will be "unable to access www.mac.com or any .Mac services ... with the exception of .Mac Mail accessed via a desktop application, iPhone, or iPod touch."
According to Apple, "MobileMe will be available as soon as possible during this maintenance window." Be sure to stay tuned to TUAW for the latest on the .Mac to MobileMe switch.
We've been receiving tips all day about an e-mail some iPhone developers got from Apple today. In the e-mail, Apple is asking developers to submit their iPhone applications to the AppStore in order to be available for the iPhone 2.0 firmware / iPhone 3G launch. The deadline? July 7th ... as in this coming Monday.
World of Apple received a screenshot of the e-mail which reads, "To ensure your application can be considered for the exciting launch of the App Store, submit your application by 12 PM PDT, on July 7, 2008. We will continue to accept applications after this time, however your application may not be available until after the launch of the App Store"
So, for all the iPhone developers out there: get your apps out by July 7th (especially for the Twitterrific and Super Monkey Ball folks).
After looking over the iPhone 3G information here on TUAW and on the AT&T website yesterday, I started thinking about what my wife and I should do with our "old" original iPhones.
Without a SIM and phone service, the original iPhone essentially becomes an iPod touch. You can still update it to the new software when it arrives, you can use it with Wi-Fi in your home, and you can use it to watch video and listen to tunes.
By keeping the old iPhone as an iPhone touch, I can get rid of some of the old iPods I have scattered around the house. What are you going to do with your iPhone after July 11th?
Macworld's Christopher Breen speculates that Mail, Stocks, Maps, Weather and Notes will be available for older iPod touch models as part of the 2.0 update coming on July 11. The apps are no longer available via the January Software Upgrade through iTunes. (Try clicking the link on this page to see what happens: nada.)
If you recall, The Stevinator said during the WWDC keynote that the 2.0 update will be available to iPod touch users for $9.99: half the cost of the January Software Upgrade that brought those apps (officially) to the iPod touch.
This move is sure to perturb the users who already bought the apps, who could be nearly $30 in the hole for something that will cost others (me, for example) a slim Hamilton.
I can think of a worse situation for iPod touch owners: Apple offering the apps individually via the app store, at some undetermined cost for each one. I have no reason at all to believe that will happen, and I really hope that it won't.
Update: Speculation alert! Christopher Breen (himself!) said in comments that his source for this information is a little shakier than he thought. He's updated the original article, and this post's been placed in the Rumors category. So add a few more grains o' salt to this one.
Along with the new iPhone SDK 8 beta that came out tonight, Apple also shipped a pre-release version of iTunes 7.7 to developers in the iPhone Dev Program. iTunes 7.7 is a requirement for the new iPhone 3G and iPhone 2.0 firmware; it also appears to include a new remote control feature.
According to an anonymous tipster, iTunes 7.7 will allow either an iPhone or iPod touch to download a free application that can remote control iTunes from anywhere in the vicinity of your Mac (most likely over your home network). Reportedly, this free application will be available in the App Store upon the 2.0 firmware release.
As we cannot confirm nor deny this tip, take it with a grain of salt until we get official word from Apple. However, as you may recall, we hinted about this capability a while back.
The software keyboard has set Apple up to ship more iPhones to more countries without wasting time manufacturing plastic keyboards. In this video, TokyoMango demos the new iPhone Japanese keyboard from the 2.0 firmware via the iPhone SDK simulator. While I cannot vouch for the usability of the keyboard (seeing as I haven't used it, nor do I know Japanese), I can say that it looks very well designed and refined.
Gizmodo and GearLive are reporting that the iPhone 2.0 firmware will go golden master (locked for shipping) this week. Golden master does not necessarily mean that Apple will ship the firmware this week (after all, Steve said that it would ship in "early July") but it does mean that the firmware and all the features are complete and ready to head out the door.
Both sites seem to agree with the build number on the new firmware: 345. Gizmodo is reporting that 2.0 will boast code signing and a new encryption feature. The iPhone firmware 2.0 is definitely something on every iPhone owner's wishlist, and here's mine (you have one of these, right?):
Super Monkey Ball (did I mention this one already?)
Scientific Calculator (would it be too hard to add a graphing calculator? c'mon, Apple!)
While we wait around the virtual campfire for the next version of the iPhone software, what are you most looking forward to in the new firmware? I think everyone can guess what my favorite feature will be; although I am still waiting for Final Cut Studio 2 for iPhone (we've been hearing rumors that it will be in the 10th generation device).
I've been getting more and more frustrated with the fact that every time I load up Google Reader on my iPhone, I have to log in again. I tried it with and without my 1Password bookmarklet, checked my javascript and cookie settings, all to no avail. And it's not just Reader, everywhere I turn, I'm logging in again. It was with great relief that I discovered the cure.
iRemember is a lightweight hack that makes a few tweaks and tells you it's "safe to uninstall" before Installer even finishes cleaning up. Do you have a jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch with a foggy memory? Add http://repo.ispazio.net to your sources in Installer, refresh and search for iRemember. Your favorite web apps will give you a much warmer welcome.
Wired has posted a guide/video showing you how to turn your iPod touch into a Moleskine book. They go on to turn the iPod touch into an e-reader type device by jailbreaking it. They used an application called "free Books" which can be found in the installer.app once your iPod touch has been jailbroken.
MacNN is reporting that Apple may be imposing file size and price caps for iPhone/iPod touch applications. According to the post, Apple would be limiting file size of applications to 2GB. Of course, most of the applications will be significantly less than 2GBs.
The post goes on to say that applications that are not free will have pricing tiers between $.99 and $999.99. The higher end of that spectrum will undoubtedly be Enterprise-style applications. MacNN also posted pictures what the AppStore inside of iTunes will look like in addition to images of the upload and pricing tier tools that developers have access to.
How much are you willing to pay for applications on the iPhone/iPod touch? Be sure to take our poll and sound off in the comments!
We've all heard the rumors that the iPhone 2.0 firmware would be out at WWDC 08, but we have received some information that begs to differ. According to the information that we have, it will be released late June/early July. This is because of Apple's deal with the cell carriers -- currently, Apple has to give the cell carriers a "first look" at the new firmware before it can ship; normally this takes around 1-2 weeks.
According to our sources, the 2.0 firmware went gold master this week, which means it will be in the hands of the cell carriers for 1-2 weeks. If Apple doesn't have to fix anything in the firmware, then it will be released to the public -- otherwise, they will have to fix the problems and start the process over again.
TUAW has also learned that the original details of the iPhone 2 which were posted on Engadget are, in fact, real. The second generation iPhone will include 3G and GPS functionality and will come in a glossy-black case. We have yet to learn any details on pricing.
Update:While we have reason to believe that this picture is real, this is still a rumor and should be treated as such. What we're confirming is Engadget's description of the new iPhone, but as pointed out in the original post the pictured item is most likely a third-party case.
Apple is offering "a free 8GB iPod touch ($299) to college students who buy a qualifying Mac (MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac, Mac Pro)."
VentureBeat goes further, contending that putting Apple's mobile platform in the hands of students practically ensures its dominance in the marketplace. "You can kiss the desktop computer goodbye," MG Siegler writes. "It's time to start training the young minds of today about the future of computing: mobile."
Instead of an iPod touch, students can opt for an 8GB iPod nano, but it's hard to see why anybody would want to do this with the soon-to-be-launched App Store.
The promotion ends September 15.
Thanks Eliot, Chris, Bert, Matt, and everyone who sent this in!
Let's face it - my development skills suck like an out-of-the-box Dyson vacuum! Back in prehistoric times when I was a Newton developer, I started by using the standard Newton dev tools but quickly learned that my programming skills were stuck in BASIC and Fortran 77. Pathetic, huh?
Fortunately, a small Canadian firm called NS Basic came out with a development kit based on BASIC that was easy to understand and use. Since then, George Henne and the NS Basic crew have kept up with the handheld world by creating dev tools for Palm OS, Windows Mobile, and (soon) Symbian, as well as providing the only remaining Newton development tool.
So what does this have to do with iPhone? NSBasic let us know about a video on their website that shows a small "Hello, World!" app and a stock quote application running on an iPhone. They're using NS Basic/Palm to write the applications, then running them in the experimental StyleTap Platform for iPhone and iPod Touch. While the apps look frighteningly like Palm OS apps, it's cool to see an easy and powerful set of dev tools that even beginners could use to write iPhone apps.
NS Basic is quick to point out that this is not a shipping product, nor do they have plans to port NS Basic to iPhone. Of course, perhaps a lot of interest in the video will convince them of the viability of the iPhone / iPod Touch market...
Way back in February we posted on an experimental Palm emulator for the iPhone & iPod touch from StyleTap. At the time, they insisted that they were making no commitment whatsoever to release it as a product. Well, apparently they've gotten over their cold feet as StyleTap has announced their intention to bring StyleTap CrossPlatform to the iPhone and iPod touch. It will be available in "early July 2008" and more details will be released at that time.
I wonder if they delayed a bit too long. Obviously, they were waiting for iPhone 2.0, but with native software coming at the same time I wonder how much Palm software people will want. That said, there is a huge catalog of Palm software out there and having come from a Treo I can think of several applications (especially finance related) that I would love to have on my iPhone. What do you think; is there any Palm software out there you really want running on your iPhone?
While it's not a replacement for the Amazon Kindle, ZappTek today announced Legends, an ebook service for iPhone and iPod touch. The Legends service will be available in the App Store on July 11th, with pricing of $1.99 for short stories and $4.99 for novels.
Apple has just updated the 
After looking over the
Macworld's Christopher Breen 
Along with the new 
I've been getting more and more frustrated with the fact that every time I load up Google Reader on my iPhone, I have to log in again. I tried it with and without my 
MacNN is 
We've all heard the rumors that the iPhone 2.0 firmware would be out at WWDC 08, but we have received some information that begs to differ. According to the information that we have, it will be released late June/early July. This is because of Apple's deal with the cell carriers -- currently, Apple has to give the cell carriers a "first look" at the new firmware before it can ship; normally this takes around 1-2 weeks. 
Apple is launching its 
Let's face it - my development skills suck like an out-of-the-box Dyson vacuum! Back in prehistoric times when I was a Newton developer, I started by using the standard Newton dev tools but quickly learned that my programming skills were stuck in BASIC and Fortran 77. Pathetic, huh?
Way back in February we 
