Yeah, let the speculation continue! No sooner did we blog about Apple’s rumored March 24th Special Event being an iPhone 3.0 or even iTablet into, then we came across this wonderful article up at Newsarama.com featuring uber-Apple tech journo, Andy Ihnatko of the Chicago Sun-Times. Most tantalizingly:
“There’s something I keep hearing, and I don’t think I’d rank it as high as a rumor, but it’s an interesting story that I keep hearing, that for awhile, trucks loaded with books would arrive at a loading dock on the Apple campus, and offload big, big, big, big, huge load of books, and then the trucks would leave empty. And Apple does not have a 100,000-book employee library there on the Apple campus,” Ihnatko said. “So one is prone to believe that they’re doing something with these books, such as turning them into text for some purpose we can only guess at. There’s been a long-standing rumor that Apple has been silently preparing to open a bookstore on the iTunes store, and they want to make sure that they have a very large stock of electronic titles when they do open.
The entire article is definitely worth a read, and given the way print media, with associated delivery and distribution costs is going, an Apple-fronted e-Book reader would be good news. An Apple and iTunes Store front e-Comic Book reader could save Marvel and DC from their own current myopia as well.
Of course, even the mighty Amazon has failed to show there’s a mainstream market for the Kindle yet (we don’t believe they’ve even hit the magic 1 million sold mark yet, have they?) and Apple has never been one to lead markets, only consumer-ize them, so we’ll see…
Meantime, who wants one?
This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
Could an Apple iTablet be a Kindle e-Book and e-Comic Killer?
Today Apple dropped new Mac Mini, iMac, and Mac Pro desktops, and Airport Extreme, and Time Capsule routers. Previously, we’d heard rumors about Apple waiting and holding one of their Special Events on March 24th, a “Spotlight Turns to Desktops” to bookend last fall’s “Spotlight Turns to Laptops” event. But none of today’s releases were as new or event-worthy as the unibody MacBooks announced last year, were they?
So, if Apple really is having a March 24th event — and it’s not just some interfanboynet make believe — what’s left for them to announce?
Well, March 2008 was the iPhone SDK Roadmap Event, where Apple began the process that ultimately led us to iPhone OS 2.0 and the App Store.
Could March 2009 give us a similar peek into the beginning of a beta process for iPhone OS 3.0? Could it show off an App Store-level complication on the order of an iPhone HD or iTablet, requiring the months before WWDC and an eventual summer release be spent testing new resolutions or screen sizes, or other hardware changes bound for the iPhone 2,1 model?
As stated explicitly in the title, pure and abject speculation at this point, but Apple does seem to like product cycles and symmetry…
What do you think?
This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
Speculation Alert: Does This Mean March 28 Will be iPhone 3.0 Beta? iTablet? What?!
Well Tap Tap Revenge 2 is now available in the App Store and for a great low price: Free!
Right off the bat, Tap Tap Revenge 2 comes with more than 150 free
downloadable tracks, and we’ll continue to add great new tracks every
week. The three bundled tracks in the game are some of our favorites.
Death Cab for Cutie’s “The Sound of Settling“ is supremely catchy and
super fun to play.Stroke 9 went into the studio to write and record
Tap Tap DomiNation, the hot new title track for Tap Tap Revenge 2.
Tap Tap Revenge 2 has the same addictive gameplay as the first game but add a completely new look and feel to it with some additional new features. Some of these new features are: a online multiplayer mode, 3-D experience where the feedback and the colors get crazier the better you do in the game, multi-tap - tap & hold and instant tap feedback make
the game more challenging and fun at the higher levels, a career mode, and finally a kids mode.
Once again, you can download this game for free in the App Store today. And don’t forget to keep an eye out for free and paid music track downloads in the near future!
This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
Quick App: Tap Tap Revenge 2 for iPhone
While news of the new iMacs, Mac minis and Mac Pros were the big announcements today from Apple, the company has also tweaked a few of their other products.
Apple has quietly increased the processor speed of their mid-range 15" MacBo...
It was rumor, it is now fact. Apple has released new versions of their Airport Extreme (WiFi router) and Time Capsule (WiFi router + HD) base stations, with simultaneous dual-band Wi-Fi:
For maximum range and compatibility, AirPort Extreme works simultaneously on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, allowing all the devices on the network to use the most efficient band automatically. And AirPort Extreme uses the latest 802.11n wireless technology so you can enjoy up to five times the performance and up to twice the range of 802.11g wireless networks.
Think of it as having 2 lanes on your WiFi highway. While your 802.11g iPhone is out taking a Sunday drive on your network, it’s no longer blocking traffic in front of your screaming fast 802.11n MacBook.
The only other new feature we could find was Guest Accounts:
Now you can set up a separate Wi-Fi network with a separate password for your visitors. Simply enable the new guest networking feature, and your guests can use the Internet but can’t access other parts of your private network, such as your computers, printers, and attached hard drives.
Anyone going to upgrade? Anyone in the market for a new router going to consider one of these?
This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
New Apple Airport Extreme and Time Capsule Feature Dual-Band for Better iPhone Friendliness
Apple today introduced the new Mac Pro using Intel "Nehalem" Xeon processors and a next-generation system architecture. The new Mac Pro starts at $2,499 and features "the latest graphics technology and an updated interior that makes expansion even e...
Mac Mini, iMac? Check. Check. Mac Pro. Check. Airport Extreme. Check. Time Capsule. Check. Yep, that’s the rumor list Apple just plowed through one after the other, with nary anything resembling a “Spotlight on Desktops” Event in sight.
Nary anything, aside from the friendliness of the new routers, approaching iPhone updates either — though we imagine new developers eyeing Macs to get into iPhone App-making with have their hands, and charge cards, full today.
You getting anything?
This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
Apple Intros New Mac Mini, iMac, Mac Pro, Airport Extreme, and Time Capsule
Apple today announced updates to its iMac and Mac mini desktop lines, including a 24-inch iMac and a Mac mini with new NVIDIA integrated graphics. For the same $1,499 price as the previous generation 20-inch iMac, the new 24-inch iMac deliver...
Confession: I bought the Watchmen comics as they came out. I remember my jaw dropping as I finished issue 11, and the interminable wait for issue 12 to come out. That, along with Dark Knight Returns informed a lot of my early thinking about deconstruction, dialog, and dramatic endings (yes, back then the actually considered and built to endings!). I’m a huge fan of writer Alan Moore (Wikipedia link) in general (Watchmen, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, V for Vendetta, and too much more to name.) And while the derivatives of those works, including the movie adaptions thus far, are the palest of imitations, and while Moore himself has begged, pleaded, and finally insisted his name be removed from any and all adaptions, the geek in me is still mind-blown to see the video above (and that’s as close to a Harry Knowles intro I’ll ever write).
G4 has the inside:
By using its patent-pending CloudMMO technology running on Amazon’s Cloud, Last Legion were able to create a persistent world for the iPhone in the Watchmen universe. Players can roam the city streets, chat with total strangers, battle with people on the other side of the country, and ride the subway to another part of the city to continue their crusade against crime, all in real-time. Watch what happened when developers from Last Legion Games brought Watchmen: Justice is Coming to our office recently, and hit the Read More link for the full press release.
So, who’s interested in not only Watching the Watchmen — but living in their world?
(Via TUAW)
This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
Quick App: DC’s Watchmen MMO for the iPhone
We repeat, this is not a drill! The Apple Store is Down! Reports are flooding in from all over the intertubes… Details are sketchy but could this be the Mac Mini, iMac, and Mac Pro update to bring in Nvidia chipsets and Nehalem cores? What about a new 30″ LED Display? How about those iPhone friendlier Airport Extreme and Time Capsule base stations we just heard about? And what does this mean for that Apple Special event we heard rumored for March 24? Almost certainly no new iPhones yet, but last March was the iPhone SDK Road Map event…
Find your loved ones. Cling to them. And hold to hope. The Apple Store WILL be back. And it will once again restore your childlike sense of wonder.
This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
Apple Store Down!
USBfever just launched a Mini Microphone for iPhone 3G, enabling users to get better sound recording quality on their iPhone. Journalists, students, teachers or researchers probably need this tiny gadget.
Now, iPod docking stations support charging capability for iPhone 3G, thanks to Scosche's converter called passPORT Home Dock. It allows users ...
Move over XBox; step aside TomTom, it's my iPhone I want. 2,500 customers from the Gadget Helpline were asked which toy made them happy which they were more likely to marry - the iPhone was a top three choice.
Coming in after the Nintendo Wii and your trusted iPod, the 3G ...
Newly revised with loads of user-requested features, MyWeather Mobile version 1.3 is now available. MWM now offers users control over terrain settings across road or aerial views, overlays via radar or satellite, radar opacity and radar loop play/pause.
In the top 100 applications for 2008, the new MyWeather integrates unit conversions in inches ...
There's only a few hours left before Apple's rumored announcement of new iMacs and Mac minis but a list of parts/specs posted to our forum indicate that Apple may be pushing out a number of additional updates including Mac Pros, Airport Extreme, and ...
