Appletell

You might recall the special event that’s been scheduled for next Tuesday at the Regent Street Apple Store in London. Acompanied by a cryptic catchphrase of “Mum is no longer the word”, the event has been largely assumed to be the unveiling of European iPhones. The store will therefore only be opened at 4pm on that day.

However, AppleInsider has learned that store employees were asked to arrive earlier, at 2pm to attend a 90 minute briefing. In addition, these employees were also told that the store was to operate until 10pm, but they had to remain till 11pm. The electronics giant also began with modifying the store’s theater area, although no further detail was provided.

Read [AppleInsider]

You might be wondering, why would some folks not want to install iTunes? Well, putting it simply, some hate it, and besides, iTunes is not available on operating systems like Linux. So what’s a penguin-and-iPod lover got to do? Thankfully, open source apps like Senuti and libraries like gtkpod/libgpod can help bridge the gap.

Unfortunately, with the introduction of the new iPods, that’s all changed. Apparently, the iTunesDB file now consists of encrypted hashes that are used for validating your music lists; this limits a lot of these third-party apps from managing the iPod’s music. Until the community figures a way around it, I guess iTunes is your answer.

Read [iPodMinusiTunes]

According to a report from The Guardian, it seems like O2 will now be the exclusive mobile carrier of Apple’s iPhone in the UK. Unfortunately, the carrier had to offer as much as 40% of its sales revenue to the Cupertino-based electronics giant. The margin will be confirmed tomorrow, but another competitor has already described the deal as “madly money-losing”.

It’s surprising that O2 would be paying so much, especially since the new iPod Touch comes at a competitive price with twice the storage capacity. The Guardian is also asserting that T-Mobile and Orange have won the contracts for Germany and France respectively; but the rest of the rumor-mongering sites are currently reporting conflicting information with regards to the European iPhone shipment dates.

Via [The Guardian]

Oops. Kevin Rose, the founder and chief software architect at Digg has apparently dropped his precious JesusPhone. In a posting on his Pownce account, the co-founder has an image of himself and his (severely) cracked and ruined iPhone.

Ouch, that look on his face says it all. What’s more interesting is that there seems to be some masking tape on the top left hand corner of his iPhone, which could indicate that the gadget was dropped prior to this.

Hmm, wonder whether he still qualifies for his $100 store credit.

Read [Valleywag]

What’s an iPod without Mac OS X? This one. It turns out that several folks have received their iPod Touches without the operating system installed. When the iPod starts up, a simple diagnostic utility is displayed showing vital functions like speaker, touch, accelerometer, ambient light, buttons and what’s this? Bluetooth!?

This sounds a lot like a little first-batch stuff up. Still, it’s interesting to note that Bluetooth hardware might actually be embedded into the iPod Touch, which could perhaps be unlocked in a future software update. Oh and did you notice the cereal box for the cereal serial number? Teehee.

Via [Engadget]

Apple has posted the feature guide for the soon-to-start-shipping iPod Touch. A nice 85-page PDF document that will answer just about any question you have regarding the Touch. It covers everything from the Basics to Music and Video, Photos, the Wi-Fi Music Store, Applications and Settings.

It would have been nice to include a Notes application similar to the iPhone but overall the only real disappointment on the Touch is the lack of the ability to edit or create events on the Calendar. Of course both of my complaints seem a little silly considering the Touch is really an iPod and not a PDA.

Read [Apple (iPod Touch Feature Guide)]

Leaving little excuse for those outrageous iPhone bills, AT&T has just introduced the “International Data Global Plan”. Now for just $24.99 a month you can get 20MB of data transfer with overages at just $.005/KB ($5 per MB).

The new international plan will work in 29 countries to include Canada, China, Mexico and many additional countries in Europe/Asia. While an unlimited option would be nice to see at least this is an option. Personally I would still suggest to remove the SIM, that way you would not have to worry about any overages.

Product [AT&T] Via [Wired]

Apple has begun to invite members of the UK media to a special press conference that is being held at the Apple Store Regent Square on September 18th. The invitation simply has the title of “Mum is no longer the word” along with some directions and the date and time of the event.

Similar to any Apple event being announced the speculation has begun about just what will be announced. Could this be the announcement for the iPhone?

Pic after the jump.

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If that $200 price drop still isn’t going to motivate you to purchase an iPhone, this might. Every purchase of said phone now entitles the buyer to a free 30-day trial of Apple’s One to One personal training service, which usually retails at a yearly fee of $99.

The trial limits you to one 50-minute training session each week. Check out Apple’s iPhone web page on getting the most out of your new iPhone, including in-store workshops, one to one training and the iconic Genius Bar.

Read [ifoAppleStore]

You always see manufacturers overestimating battery life, but how often do you see them underestimating it? iLounge recently did some tests with Apple’s new iPod nano and iPod classic, and the results might just surprise you.

The iPod nano managed to perform for 30 hours (audio) and 5 hours 47 mins (video), compared to Apple’s estimate of 24 and 5 hours respectively. The 160GB iPod classic, on the other hand managed to last for an amazing 58 hours (audio) and 9 hours 35 mins (video), up from 40 and 7 hours specified by Apple respectively.

Via [iLounge]