Mobile Apple Me

Apple will begin to allow downloads of movies and TV shows through the iPhone, according to the hottest rumor --complete with supposed screenshots-- revealed just before a week-end.

The blogger wrote:

This revelation, (again at least to me) comes by way of an advertisement in the new ad supported version of the app Twitterfon released on 5/15/09. Three ads, stumbled upon by a geeky friend of mine who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of the powerful arms of the Apple legal department, scrolling across the top of the app were for ‘iTunes Movies’, ‘iTunes TV’ and ‘iTunes Movie Rentals’.

Unsubstantiated rumor? I don't know, though on-device downloads would be nice. Currently, the only way to get video on an iPhone is by downloading it via iTunes on your computer and syncing with your device.

via Open Salon

Apple have again inflamed the App Store censorship debate, by rejecting an ebook reader application through which it was possible to search for - and view - classic text The Kama Sutra.  The app, Eucalyptus, shows text-only versions of out-of-copyright books from the Project Gutenberg archive.

The App Store reviewer, finding that The Kama Sutra was accessible, then rejected the software under Apple's "inappropriate sexual content" clause of the iPhone SDK agreement.  However the same text is viewable online, through the iPhone's Safari browser, as a downloadable ebook through Amazon's Kindle app for iPhone, and bought as an audio book through iTunes.

"Thank you for submitting Eucalyptus — classic books, to go. to the App Store. We’ve reviewed Eucalyptus — classic books, to go. and determined that we cannot post this version of your iPhone application to the App Store because it contains inappropriate sexual content and is in violation of Section 3.3.12 from the iPhone SDK Agreement which states:

"Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple’s reasonable judgement may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users."" Apple rejection letter

Eucalyptus' author has now resubmitted the app, with a block on viewing The Kama Sutra.  Apple's parental controls make make the app submission and approval process more straightforward, but the seemingly mixed messages their software reviewers are delivering will be harder to navigate.

via Boing Boing

Yahoo has added voice search capabilities to their Yahoo Mobile 1.1 for iPhone and iPod Touch. Google already added voice recognition to their iPhone search application on November last year.

"You'll press the oneSearch field and see the large gray button prompting you to press and speak your inquiry," CNET writes, adding that like most voice input systems, this one isn't without its computational errors -- especially in recognizing voice accurately.

Other features in YM version 1.1 including:

• Instant Messaging
• Share Photos
• Stealth Settings
• Custom status message
• Recent conversations archive
• Special idle state
• Landscape keyboard mode
• New “Report a Problem” feature

via CNET

Amazon updated its free Kindle app for the iPhone, adding features that many people been waiting for. The version 1.1 features include the ability to pinch to zoom in on images in Kindle books, to read in either portrait or landscape mode with auto-rotation and added a couple of new choices of text color.

Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch is available for free from Apple’s App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore/.  You can shop for hundreds of thousands of books, and wirelessly transfer them to your iPhone and iPod Touch.

via MacWorld