App store anniversary mark? Yeah there's probably an app for that...

Dr. Kim over at MacRumors points out the special iTunes page that highlights some of the app store favorites as it begins to celebrate a year of marginalizing the importance of music and photos on your iPod/iPhone as it has mine.

Here's what the page says underneath the graphic:

"Light a candle and cue the music. Okay, forgive us for sounding like doting parents, but we’re just so proud-having watched the App Store go from promising newcomer to full-fledged revolutionary. To celebrate its first birthday, we’ve gathered some of our favorite games and apps. Part fun. Part function. Entirely amazing."

Once I moved to the iPod Touch and began to download apps, the thought of needing my 60GB 5th Gen iPod began to fade away. Certainly I use the apps more than I listen to music or podcasts or watch video.

The apps also make a powerful pull against iPhone users moving to another mobile platform, as yes, there is pretty much an app for everything. Palm, Android, Rim and Windows mobile will of course bolster their offerings, but if you are a Mac user, do you really want to duplicate the experience of having a smaller number of software offerings as you do on the desktop platform versus the vast range for the PC. These folks are in software Nirvana.

Of course the argument here is that more apps doesn't necessarily mean better ones (search for tip calculators). But it does show where the major software developers are at the moment, and as long as Apple can keep the momentum going, we'll see McDonald's type signage saying "Billions and Billions served."

'I just can't get enough' - of my Wireless Provider

This Netbook offer from Best Buy shows how serious Wireless carriers want your Internet business.

A Netbook for a buck, or even $199? Wow what a deal...Until you see the fine print from this Best Buy in-store special. Here's what it says, in case you can't read it in the picture above.

"Instant savings require in-store activation through Best Buy on new lines of service with 2-year agreement on each line. Requires monthly access charge. If usage limit of 5GB/month is exceeded, you will be charged a usage fee. Check with Carrier for details. Available anywhere within the Broadband Access rate and coverage area. No dealers. Service available in New Jersey. Carriers and products vary by store. Subject to credit approval. Restrictions apply. Activation and termination fees apply. Actual speeds may vary. Existing cell phone contract not required. See a Customer Specialist in store for details."

Why dangle Netbooks as carrots with the rise of Smartphones on the market from Apple, Palm and Blackberry?

Long time mobile technology site jkOntheRun:

"From a business perspective, Sprint is fully subsidizing the hardware price in order to gain a two-year service agreement. At $60 a month, the 3G service costs the consumer $1,440, for a rough net gain to Sprint of around $1,050 over two years for a single customer. Voice revenues are taking a back seat to the more lucrative data services, so I think this is a smart play for Sprint. All three carriers have invested billions of dollars in their networks, but you can’t recoup your costs and turn a profit if you can’t get customers on the network. In a recent, detailed 3G test, Sprint won out as the “most reliable” network, but you don’t earn money by winning titles. You have to get paying customers, and at 99 cents for a netbook, Sprint might do just that."

Seems to follow Verizon's foray back in May, which offered an HP mini 1151 and a paltry 250MB plan for $199 after a $50 rebate.

But unless somebody is able to give you a legitimate way to gage your useage and let you know when you've exceeded your monthly allotment, I don't think it matters whether you have a 50MB cap or a 500GB one, ISP's need to be up front with the costs. Otherwise users who think they are getting a bargain could be in for a surprise if they go over their plan.

P.S. MacRumors has a link to the Wall Street Journal story on the U.S. Department of Justice inquiry on the exclusivity deals some providers have with handset makers (cough...AT&T).

Blackberry loves U2 - Mobile album coming soon to your Crackberry

U2 is getting together with Blackberry to offer an exclusive for those smartphone owners. Called the U2 Mobile Album, users can sign up on the Blackberry site to be notified when content from U2's 360 tour will be available.

From Matt Rosoff of CNET.

"Although the video teaser is fairly cryptic, it looks like the app will let users listen to the latest U2 album "No Line on the Horizon," watch videos, and read news updates. A more interesting twist: it also looks like users will be able to share video clips from U2 concerts--a map will let you pick among BlackBerry-toting audience members with different stage angles"

Next iPod Touch gets a camera? - From MacRumors

The rumblings from MacRumors and Techcruch bring to light that the next model of the iPod Touch and perhaps the Nano would get a camera.

From Dr. Kim at MacRumors:

"The rumor that the iPod Touch would get a camera first appeared in May from HardMac. The rumor, however, now makes more sense since the introduction of the iPhone 3GS which features video as a major new feature. When Apple does update the new iPod Touch, it seems likely that they will also upgrade the device to the more powerful processor and graphics chips that were introduced in the iPhone 3GS."

I think it makes sense that Apple would need to keep doling out features like this to keep interest maintained in the iPod lines. Now that the iPhone has pretty much blown up, the fear that the Touch might cannibalize interest in the iPhone, due to it's features without a commitment to a phone carrier could be pretty much put to bed.

This also would be a big deal for folks like me who are locked into another carrier, but would love to have a camera that does better pictures and video in the device we carry around (along with our other phone).

Firefox 3.5 available now

The safe and sturdy alternative to Internet Explorer, Mozilla's Firefox has gotten an upgrade. While at this point many browsers have matured to the point where the average Joe like me would have to dig deep to appreciate the many values of each new version, for safety's sake it's always good to updates.

On that thought, Ryan Paul of Ars Technica does take a look at one of the new privacy browsing features of this version:

"When the user enables private browsing mode from the browser's Tools menu, the browser will end the current session and start in private browsing mode. While it is in this mode, the browser will function normally but the data that it tracks will not persist. When the private browsing mode is disabled, the user's previous session will be reloaded and there will be no sign of the activity that transpired during private browsing. This feature is typically referred to as pr0n mode, but Mozilla points out that it has broader uses and can also function well as a "guest" mode in situations where users allow their friends to make use of their browser."

This, however should not embolden you to go poking around places on the net you don't need to be -AT WORK.

Your public service announcement from Cornfedtech.com

Some movement on Starcraft 2? From Ars Technica

At some point, Blizzard will move Starcraft 2 from the Duke Nukem Forever category to the store shelves.

Ben Kuchera of Ars Technica has been following some of the recent buzz, and has filed a nice wrap-up.

"Blizzard is on full publicity mode today, with a number of sites posting preview stories and interviews with the people behind the game. StarCraft 2 is one of the most anticipated games of the year, and with Blizzard promising a new version of Battle.net launching alongside the game and three single-player full-game releases instead of one game with three campaigns, there are many questions gamers have about the product. We've scoured everyone's coverage to try to pick out the surprising, the odd, and the downright cool details from each one, bringing you a gaggle of StarCraft news."

Fascination with Starcraft automatically puts you in the catagory of A) Old gamer, and B) The Republic of South Korea.

Still living in the Pacific during the initial release of Starcraft, I was amazed to see the kids in the Korean owned Lan/Internet shops playing this game on an entirely new level than me and my few friends to struggled to use Battle.net over Dial-up service.

Here's hoping for the best for the 2nd edition, but I go in with cautious skepticism.

Stay tuned.

MJ continues to dominate iTunes charts

A quick look at the iTunes Top Albums today. With the Black Eyed Peas coming in at #10 there is an interesting TMZ connection here.

Paul Thurrott breaks down Windows 7 pricing

Paul Thurrott of the SuperSite for Windows does a nice breakdown of the Windows 7 pricing for retail and upgrades and offers this nugget for those looking to save a little cash:

"While the estimated retail prices for the various Windows 7 versions are not substantially different than those of Windows Vista, Microsoft is offering a limited-time concession to budget-conscious customers, but only in select markets. In the US, Canada, and Japan, you can pre-order Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional between June 26, 2009 and July 11, 2009 (July 5 in Japan), and you will save well over 50 percent over the normal retail price....This special offer is available online only from retail partners like Amazon.com and Best Buy, and via the online Microsoft Store (in participating markets). (The special pre-order prices vary per country.)"

Thurrott adds general availability begins on October 22nd.

Although the special on the upgrade price makes Windows 7 appealing to even Mac users who have downloaded the demo for use with Bootcamp or for a netbook, once the regular price kicks in (say for those who will run the beta until next March), they will be a little less likely to fork over the regular price.

Also a shame, that given the $29 upgrade price for Mac's coming operating system, Snow Leopard in September, that the folks in Redmond may have lost a marketing bullet point on the cost of a PC.

'Man free to kill gophers at will' - Judge rules Apple can continue suit against Psystar

Apple clone-maker Psystar has been in a world of hurt lately, having to file bankruptcy and having Apple come down legally for putting together cheap Mac systems. Judge Robert Mark, though has added some more bad news.

Lawsuit-Game on...

From Chris Foresman of Ars Technica:

"While Psystar can delay the proceedings further by requesting a written analysis of Judge Mark's decision, as well as filing for an appeal, an attorney familiar with such proceedings told The Mac Observer that the outlook for Psystar isn't good. "I doubt that an appeal would be successful, and the prospects for a motion for reconsideration are even worse," he said."

Think Apple doesn't smell blood here?

I see units from Cupertino fanning out in camouflaged hats, sniper rifles and 6 packs of beer.

'And that's all she wrote.'

Cable TV in an online world - From CNET

Marguerite Reardon from CNET has an interesting report on the efforts of Comcast, working with Time Warner to move some content online.

"Comcast's plan is designed to provide TV networks and movie studios a secure way to distribute their movies and TV shows to a wider audience via the Internet. The way the service works is that people will only be able to access content if they have a cable TV subscription. But the service will work over any Internet provider, so that a Comcast TV subscriber could access video-on-demand services available through his paid TV package using Verizon's DSL service, for example."

Although this service for those test areas will be free, adding another value added service to your bill is in my mind the end game here for Comcast and any other outlet who has this in mind. As costs for delivery rise for providers unless you keep raising customer rates you are put in a squeeze on the revenue side.

I like the ability to have more access to the cable TV service I pay Comcast through the nose for, I'm not excited about paying for another add on.

Apple sells 1 Meeelllion iPhones this weekend

Good numbers from Cupertino for the iPhone 3GS launch. Although the crowds were lighter, it seems all those pre-orders helped out.

From Apple's press release today:

"Apple today announced that it has sold over one million iPhone™ 3GS models through Sunday, June 21, the third day after its launch. In addition, six million customers have downloaded the new iPhone 3.0 software in the first five days since its release.

“Customers are voting and the iPhone is winning,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “With over 50,000 applications available from Apple’s revolutionary App Store, iPhone momentum is stronger than ever.”

Big numbers compared to the launch for the previous 2 phones.

From Apple Insider:

"It took Apple 74 days, or approximately two and a half months, to sell its first million iPhones back in 2007, while last year's iPhone 3G launch saw a million devices sold in just the first three days, setting a benchmark for future iPhone releases. Given that sales figures reported Monday by Apple don't include sales of the newly-priced $99 8GB iPhone 3G, it's more than likely this past weekend represented the company's most successful product launch to date."

Of course the first gen phone launched without the benefit of the application store. Remarkable that given the economy, demand still seems as strong. Image also the numbers, had all the 3G folks been allowed to upgrade without some of the extra cost. One could image that could carry over when all of those folks hit their contract term next summer.

It's all about the Brick - Brickworld 2009 kicks into the weekend here in Chicagoland

Yesterday's iPhone 3GS launch was all about the toys for the geeks. However this weekend's Brickworld '09 is about the toys for kids of all ages.

The Westin Hotel, in the north Chicago Suburb of Wheeling houses 3 large ballrooms filled with all manner of cool LEGO displays by folks all around the region. Everything literally from Planes, trains and automobiles.

Pretty much anything you could think of that could be built has been built by dedicated fans who spent countless hours designing, building, and then transporting here to be displayed.

I put up a small picasa album here. The Flickr one here.

The YouTube video is here.

In addition to the displays there were events for those that registered for the whole event, which kicked off on Thursday. Saturday and Sunday are more for the general public to come in and check out the scene.

This modular display by Nathan Stollman of Minneapolis and his crew can be put together in many different ways. Note the Baxter Building in the left center.

I was able to chat with a couple of the people presenting LEGO displays of their own and will put up that video shortly.

Chris Eyerly of Kenosha did a replica of Chicago's famous Robie House, designed by Frank Llyod Wright. Always knew this pic would come in handy one day!

Here's the link for the main site for more information. The event will run through tomorrow. Get out while you can if you're in the neighborhood.