We covered Jason Rohrer's Primrose when it first came out -- the creator of Passage, a critically-acclaimed indie game, had taken his first steps onto the iPhone with an abstract puzzle game, and in this latest interview with Edge, Rohrer says he's on the iPhone to stay. He says that when he first moved from strictly art/indie games to more commercial development on the iPhone, he worried that he was selling out: he wasn't a fan of cell phones at all or any Chinese-made gadgets sold by American companies, and yet the iPhone's platform seemed most "palatable" to him in terms of making games and a little money from them.

And yet he says the iPhone still has pros and cons -- even in an "open source, free software" world, Apple's system offers a choice: you can buy a packaged-up version of the software and throw a little money back to the developer (not a ton -- he says you've still got a better chance at making a living from Vegas than you do from the App Store), or you can still try building and installing your own version on your iPhone. As an open-source developer selling apps on the App Store, he says, "you're charging for the service and convenience, not the content."

Still, he echoes the sentiments of lots of other developers: "There is no quality filter, except for the whims of the masses." Apple's App Store offers up an intriguing system for many indie developers like Rohrer, who want to earn a little money for their games without setting up all of the complexity and burdens of a more traditional publishing channel, but it's still tough to keep from getting lost in the mix.

Did you know that after it is broken down into all of its composite metals and materials and parts, your human body is really only worth about $4.50? Yup, you're cheap in the broadest sense -- all of that oxygen, magnesium, iron, and sodium isn't actually worth all that much in the rare metals market. In fact, according to iSuppli, you're worth way less than the iPhone 3GS -- they looked at the component parts for Apple's new handset, and calculated its raw value at around $178.96. The most expensive components are the 16gb flash memory (ringing in at around $25 per part) and the display (at $19), all the way down to the audio codec board, which Apple reportedly picked up for a cheap $1.15. Of course, there was lots more cheaper stuff (we assume the screws weren't a buck each), but iSuppli didn't actually go that granular. That also doesn't include any of the non-hardware costs: shipping fees, R&D, distribution, marketing, and so on. But it's way more than you're worth, and it's $40 more than the Palm Pre costs to make, too.

Lest you start worrying that your spouse will start valuing their iPhone more than your body, however, there is a silver lining. If you break down to the mineral components of the human body, we're cheap, but the actual components of the body are pretty expensive, it turns out. Expensive to the tune of $45 million, if you count up all the money you could pick up from taking out your bone marrow, extracting your DNA, and selling off a lung or two. Just like the iPhone's parts, when assembled, are worth more than iSuppli's $179, you too pick up some value when assembled the right way.

[via Engadget]

As Mike mentioned in the news roundup yesterday, word is going around that the corporate overlords at Apple are planning to build a massive server farm in the state of North Carolina within the next decade or so. How do we know? Because the company is working on getting a few nice tax breaks to go along with the deal, eventually worth about $46 million if Apple fulfills their end of the agreement. Their end of the agreement being a huge investment of a whopping $1 billion (that's over 333,000 Xserves, if that is indeed what they're installing -- and we bet not) into an economy that could probably use it. What exactly will go in there? We aren't sure -- lawmakers say the investment is worth it, and obviously Apple isn't showing their cards.

[Note: the $1B investment figure is not an upfront number, but rather a total investment over the first 9 years of operation. –Ed.]

But the facility, once up and running, will start by employing at least 100 people, so that's a nice start. Google has apparently gone through the same deal with North Carolina recently, though their deal was a little smaller: $600 million investment for a server farm that opened last year.

More backend for Mobile Me? More power for the App Store or a project like it? A giant building full of Cubes running 24 hours a day? Or something we haven't even dreamt of yet?

The Wall Street Journal's Digits blog takes a look at "crap apps" -- those pieces of junk on the App Store that do one thing and do it pointlessly, whether that thing be farting or belching or making the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard (yes, really) or what have you. And they come up with a very intriguing, albeit obvious, reason that the App Store seems so filled with completely terrible and silly apps. Why? Because they sell.

Yes, even "legitimate" iPhone developers -- those people working hard to create an innovative touchscreen interface, or bring some crucial functionality to the iPhone -- are finding that of all the apps they release, the crudest and most stupid are the ones that sell. They profile a guy whose serious movie apps aren't selling, but whose cobbled-together-in-five-minutes gimmick apps are making a mint. In short, the reason our App Store is full of way more fart apps than apps like Twitterific 2.0 is because people are paying for the fart ones. The message we're sending with our wallets is that if you want to make a million dollars on the App Store, don't toil away to polish your groundbreaking award-winning puzzle game. Just give us a gag we can show to our friends.

Is it right? I'd say no, but then again, even I have been pulled in to a gimmick app or two: I bought Cat Piano (in my defense, I've gotten enough entertainment out of it to find an easter egg: shake your iPhone while playing). But next time your finger is poised over the "Get App" button on that 99-cent belching app that you just know the friend you're seeing later will get a total kick out of, think to yourself: is that two-second gag worth an App Store full of crappy apps?

This might be obvious to most of us, but the WSJ feels it's fit to print: while Steve Jobs' reimbursed budget for his private jet has been fairly considerable over the past year or so -- $580,000 for a six-month period a year ago and $30,000 during a quarter period, the past few reports have seen the budget much, much lower. For the first three months of this year they didn't pay him at all, and for the previous six months before that they've only reimbursed him for $4,000.

What does this mean? Nothing, really -- while the WSJ points to it as evidence Jobs hasn't been traveling overseas to help bring the iPhone to China and carry out other big Apple deals, we've already known that Jobs wasn't involved much in the day-to-day business anyway; besides, it's hard to recuperate at home and fly around the world simultaneously. There are lots of other reasons for the budget to be down -- that $580,000 period would have been right around the manufacturing point of the iPhone 3G, and since most of the focus lately is on software, it's not like Jobs needs to be jetsetting off exotic plants to make sure production is on schedule.

And of course gas prices are back down quite a bit, and companies are under a little more scrutiny and pressure in this economy, so teleconferencing may be just as good as a plane ticket these days. Apple is still saying Jobs is expected back in June, and though these plane figures are interesting, the fact that Apple is still confident of his return says more about the company's future.

In the never-ending battle of where to spend your George Washington's (the paper ones, that is) some battles are won and some battles are lost. In this case, however, it's turned into a bit of a draw. As we previously mentioned the day hath befallen on which iTunes now "features" a variable pricing structure. The three flavors available are $0.69US, $0.99US, and $1.29US with, according to Apple, "many more songs" available at the $0.69US price point.

The idea of a DRM-free iTunes is definitely a popular one that has been requested for years. The unfortunate side-effect, as imposed by the record labels, is that more popular songs are going to be charged a premium over the tried-and-true $0.99US price point. On the other side, however, is the $0.69US price point for songs that nobody wants are less popular. This is unfortunate because, as Victor mentioned, a single dollar is an easy impulse buy to swallow. I'll add to that the fact that it's easy to understand that 3 songs = 3 dollars; while a price of $1.29US is a little bit more challenging for those of us without calculators in our brains.

In my opinion, record labels are going to see a decrease in sales due to this decision. Many people have iTunes account balances and gift cards that are now going to get them less "tune for their buck." The result of that is consumers will buy less (they have less to spend) and they will be more meticulous in deciding what to purchase. DRM-free, iTunes Plus tracks are a novel idea, but the main benefit will be lost on many consumers. The only change they will notice is that the bill has gone up.

Via Macworld

This seems like bad news for Apple, to say the least. A few Chinese websites are now selling $200 gift certficates to iTunes for less than a few bucks, which means that it's likely hackers have figured out the algorithm to determine gift codes on Apple's music store. As with most online codes, iTunes gift certificate numbers are generated by a formula somewhere -- figure out the formula, and you can generate your own codes (though it's of course tough to do and highly illegal).

The good news is that this might be an easy fix for Apple: they'll just have to re-figure the formula. The tougher thing to do will be to determine which of the old codes to honor -- they'll want to make sure to approve all of the cards on the shelves at Best Buy right now, while still trying to catch all of the illegal codes generated by hackers.

But then again, we're talking about a digital store that's already making cash hand over fist. Maybe even if one hacker on a shady website has figured out how to generate iTunes codes, Apple isn't too concerned about losing a few thousand dollars when they're still selling millions of dollars worth of music and content legitimately.

Many Mac users have been using Cha-Ching to manage their bank accounts for some time. The guys at Midnight Apps are at it again, and this time their money management software is on the iPhone.

Just like the Mac version, Cha-Ching mobile allows you to create multiple account and manage your budget, schedule payments, and add payees. Probably the most amazing feature is the ability to sync all of the data from the Mac version of Cha-Ching wirelessly to your iPhone/iPod touch.

When you tap on the Budget icon in the toolbar, you have the ability to see at a glance your current budget. At the top is your overall budget showing how much money you have left on a scale. If you tap on the Budget icon a second time, a history of your budgets for each month will come up. When you're ready to set your budget, tap on "Edit" at the top. You can add or remove categories in the app settings.

New to Cha-Ching is the scheduler section of the app. In this area, you can easily track upcoming bills. You can set the frequency, amount, category, account to subtract it from, and any notes that you might want to include.

Cha-Ching mobile is also location-aware. When you add a payee you can have the app remember the location. When you sort by locations, the nearest payees will show up near the top. This is a great way to track your payees based on where you are. The app will also remember the category, location, and other details about the payee; this makes creating new payments simple because most of the details will be automatically filled in for you.

In the settings section, you can easily see all of your accounts, set user-created categories, secure your Cha-Ching app with a 4-digit passcode, sync with Cha-Ching 2.0 on your Mac, and set scheduler options.

Cha-Ching mobile should be on the App Store soon. It has a sale price of $2.99US. You can visit their teaser page for a quick movie demo of the app.

I've been using Mint.com (not to be confused with Shawn Inman's great Mint web stats tracker) to track my financial information for a while now. It's very nice -- completely free, and hooks right into your bank accounts, investments, or other financial accounts online (securely, of course -- they've got over 7,500 institutions in the system) to let you know what you're spending, when, and where. I'm lazy when it comes to budgets, but Mint will automatically make budgets for you based on what you spent the month before, so I can see if my groceries, bus fare, or, ahem, iPhone app budgets go over one month.

And now they're released an iPhone app, so you can have access to all of that information on the go. It's pretty much a portable Mint -- you've got all of your usual account information, alerts are pushed off onto their own screen, so you can see at a glance where you're overspending, and you can flip through and see your expenses for the month, where your cash is going, and any budgets you've programmed into Mint. The app is quick and easy to use -- like Mint.com, but in the palm of your hand. It's free and on the App Store right now (though of course you have to set yourself up on their website first).

One security issue: the app wisely recommends that if you don't have a passcode on your phone already, you put one on it, since your financial information will be available to anyone using your phone. The Mint.com folks also tell us that you can disable iPhone app access from their website, so even if you do lose your phone, you can keep unwanted users from reaching your information. But as with everything, there's a tradeoff of convenience and security -- while it's helpful to have this information anywhere you are, the flip side is that it's that much more likely to fall into the wrong hands.

Which hardly seems believable, but you never know. Yes, Walmart, that bastion of crass commercialism, is going to be carrying the iPhone, that symbol of elegant commercialism, and what we're going to get is a whole lot of commercialism. Analyst Gene Munster (our favorite prognosticator other than the Groundhog himself) says that not only will Apple sell a whopping 45 million iPhones next year, but a tenth of them will be sold right here in America at good ol' Walmart.

Apparently he didn't change his numbers from before the announcement of the Walmart deal, since he had already planned on Apple finding other ways to sell the iPhone. But man, that's a lot of iPhones – enough to give everyone in my current city of Chicago an iPhone, and then some to spare (we'd send them to St. Louis, if we actually had a Walmart here to buy them from).

But no one's ever been proven wrong overestimating Apple sales we guess. If you think iPhones are commonplace now, wait until you see them at Walmart.

[via MacBytes]

Just because Apple aficionados have historically been willing to pay a modest premium for the world's best computers, music players and cellphones, that doesn't mean they don't enjoy the occasional bargain as much as their Windows-using, Zune-toting, Blackberry-typing brethren. In the spirit of healthy holiday consumerism, here's our list (far from comprehensive) of a few select deals for the Black Friday sales. You can get full-on shop-till-you-drop coverage at dealmac.com, and quick overviews from Gizmodo and dealNN.

Naturally, Amazon and Newegg both have big discounts on most gear for today -- not all of it is good for Macheads but there are plenty of treats on the hard drive, headphone and camera front. Amazon is selling SwissGear backpacks for $24, which is tempting, and shows the iPod touch 8GB at $209; that's likely to be matched by the Apple Store's one-day discount as it rolls around the globe. Newegg has the usual excellent pricing on hard drives and flash memory, although not much on the 'secret deals page' is overly Apple-oriented; $19 for an 8 GB flash drive might raise some eyebrows and liberate some funds, though.

The heat on hardware is also clearly set to 'high' with the discounts from Best Buy, MacMall and MacConnection. Right now MacConnection is showing the best deal on my benchmark machine (the midrange MacBook unibody), with a selling price of $1149 -- keep an eye on the other sites too, as MacMall is right behind at $1179.

If you love to watch TV on your shiny Mac screen, there's a deal for you too. Elgato is offering $50 off of the $149 EyeTV Hybrid HDTV tuner and DVR software bundle today. This is a particularly good item for anyone who has an older analog TV in a spot where they don't have cable or satellite but they do have a computer -- it's a great way to get through the digital transition in February of 2009, as domestic US television drops its analog signals for good.

Nobody can live by hardware alone, though, and there are plenty of software and accessory vendors who want to grab their fair share of your gift budget. A few of note below...

When Apple first announced the iFund a while back, the idea seemed pretty opaque by its very nature -- the plan was to invest $100 million in people and companies who were interested in developing innovating apps for the iPhone. But that could be anybody, and though we've heard a few peeps from them since, the whole process hasn't been super clear.

That's probably why the iFund people are stepping up themselves to provide a little clarity: they've started an iFundVC blog to explain the whole process and (hopefully) keep us up to date on just what the $100 million is getting them. The first post gets us up to date on who's getting this cash -- apparently ngmoco is one of the groups being iFunded, as is a text-messaging social platform (your guess is as good as ours) called GOGII, and another secret project launching next year.

They also discuss what's gone on with the App Store so far, and say that they're committed to pushing the quality of apps in the store forward. We're all for that -- hopefully in this case, more money will equal better apps. That doesn't always (ever?) work, but somebody's got to try it.

MacBundleBox is offering 15 Mac applications for $49.95: an 85 percent discount (compared to buying each app individually). The apps included are:

• Headline - A full-featured RSS/ATOM feed reader with an ultra-minimal UI.
• Mac Pilot 3 - A system optimization and customization utility.
• iConquer - A game not unlike Risk.
• Mahjong Forests - A traditional mahjong game.
• Shoebox Express - A solution for organizing all your photos by content.
• Caboodle - A way to collect random snippets of text or images on your machine.
• Narrator - A program that will read out stories in multiple voices.
• WriteRoom - A distraction-free word-processor, and possibly the most popular app in the bundle.
• Scribbles - A simple drawing utility.
• Money - An accounting app.
• Operation - A simple project management application.
• Aurora - An iTunes-integrated alarm clock.
• Compositor - A CoreGraphics-based image editor.
• Sofa Control - Allows you to control your applications remotely, using an Apple Remote.

MacBundleBox is available directly from their website.

MacMage has just released a clever little app that aims to make keeping track of your small purchases easy as pie ($7.99 for that pie). Cents ($4.99 for a full license) sits in your menubar and patiently waits for you to spend some money. Simply click the coin icon in your menubar, and the interface as seen to the right pops up. Enter the name of your purchase and how much you paid for it and you're well on your way to financial independence (priceless). You can also export your data from Cents for importing into your main financial tracking app.

Cents 1.0 requires OS X 10.5, and there is a free demo available though exporting is disabled.

One of the most surprising announcements from today's Apple shindig (at least to me) was the iFund from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. This $100 million fund will invest in companies, large or small, that want to develop innovative apps for both the iPhone and the iPod touch.

The iFund will invest anywhere from $100,000 to $15 million in funds for iPhone development. Check out the FAQ for more details.