Rock Band coming to iPhone
It’s long been rumored, but today EA Mobile has officially confirmed that Rock Band will indeed be coming to the iPhone. Featuring 15 songs (plus an additional 5 that can be unlocked through play), Rock Band for the iPhone is attempting to recreate the living room rock experience as faithfully as it possibly can while still living in your pocket. Bluetooth multiplayer, World Tour mode, and the ability to expand your Rock Band library through dowwnloadable content will form the basis of what EA hopes will become the de facto music experience on the iPhone.
Jim Whitelaw vs. Apple Canada
Jim Whitelaw is a man with a problem. Jim bought his 10 year old daughter an iPod Touch so that she could play some games without having to break the bank on her allowance. He set her up with an iTunes account, gave her an iTunes gift card, and told her to go at it. Only, she couldn’t. Apple Canada doesn’t allow iTunes gift cards to be used for App Store purchases.
News: iPhone OS 3.1 now available
Announced at today’s Apple event, the latest iteration of the iPhone operating system is already available on iTunes. OS 3.1 is a free upgrade to OS 3.0 users that offers an improved shopping experience, better sync functionality, and a host of other options and tweaks.
News: Snow Leopard to Include Anti-Malware Utility
Apple has long used the security of its software as a selling point. While Windows machines are often plagued with viruses, spyware, malware, any number of bad things, Apple users generally go about their days with little or no security protection, because little to none is ever needed. However, starting with Snow Leopard, the company is apparently packaging anti-malware tools into its operating system. This has two effects: firstly, it makes the system more secure, but secondly, it also gives the system the appearance of being less secure. Apple has not yet returned requests to comment on the feature, which is getting analysts and bloggers talking.
News: Apple Denies Rejection of Google Voice App
In a letter written to the Federal Communications Commission, Apple stated that, rather than rejecting a proposed iPhone application for the Google Voice web service—as had been previously reported by many news agencies—the company was “still pondering” the program. This letter is in response to an ongoing investigation by the FCC into Apple, AT&T, and Google, and their connections to and thoughts about the Google Voice service.
News: Plants Vs. Zombies Coming to iPhone
Earlier this year, PopCap Games once again proved their pedigree as the premiere publisher in the casual games space when it released Plants vs. Zombies to PC and Mac owners the world over. A unique spin on the tower defense genre, Plants vs. Zombies once again proved PopCap’s ability to re-invent the wheel. It quickly earned widespread critical acclaim and commercial success, selling “more briskly in its first 90 days of online availability than any previous game we’ve published,” according to PopCap’s VP of Marketing Ben Rotholtz.
Given PopCap’s track record it only stood to reason that PvZ would be ported to every console known to man. That’s why it comes as no surprise when PopCap Games announced this morning that, in addition to an upcoming port to Xbox Live Arcade and a recent retail box release, Plants vs Zombies will be arriving in the AppStore for iPhone users in late 2009.
News: iTunes now accounts for 25% of all music sales in US
A recent study by the market research group NPD showed that digital music purchases continued their steady rise to market dominance during the first half of 2009. While that fact in and of itself isn’t all that surprising, what share of the overall music market iTunes now makes up is enough to knock the socks off even the most passionate Apple devotee: 25%.
That’s not 25% of the digital market — that’s 25% of the total market. This makes them the largest music seller in the US, beating out their closest competitor Wal-Mart, currently sitting at 14% of total music sales, by a whopping 11 points.
News: Apple—Accidentally and Briefly—Releases Snow Leopard
Earlier today, a listing appeared on the Apple Online store that no one expected. A product was posted claiming to be a Box Set bundle of iLife ‘09, iWork ‘09, and the clincher—the as-yet-unreleased operating system Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. While this was simply the result of a glitch in the store, and not actually the release of the product—which, consequently, was removed as soon as the error was noticed—it adds to evidence already collected that suggests that Apple may be releasing the new operating system much earlier than previously expected.
News: Deposit Your Checks by iPhone
Although online banking has been around for some time, with individual websites for banks, as well as aggregator sites such as Mint.com and Wesabe, a new iPhone app has taken the process to a whole new level. The privately owned bank USAA has released an application that allows its users to deposit a check in their account simply by photographing both sides of it with the iPhone’s built-in camera.
Preview: Shovel 3.0 Brings Facebook Integration, Other New Features
In our recent interview with developer Scott Fitzhugh, Scott tipped us off to the upcoming release of Shovel 3.0. The third iteration of the Digg app available for the iPhone and iPod Touch, Shovel 3.0 will bring some sweeping changes to the app that many of us have come to know and love. Facebook, search capabilities, user info — the list goes on and on. Here’s what Scott says we can expect;
