Appletell

Seems that software developers aren’t the only ones having trouble getting their content into the app store, although I can’t image most are being rejected for the same reason as Infurious. Their digital comic Murderdrome has been “banned” from the iTunes App Store for “… breaking Apple’s content guidelines.” Infurious explains that, “This is due to the part of the sdk that suggests content must NOT offend anyone in ‘apple’s reasonable’ opinion.” Apparently, Apple feels the stabbing people in the face with a machete, hacking off their head and throwing into a hole in the wall for sport might offend someone. Go figure.

When I hear stories like this, my first thought is always, “Well, what did you expect?” To their credit, though, Infurious aren’t calling for a boycot of Apple or asking us to flood them with requests to allow the comic in the App Store, they want us to rally behind their idea that Apple should implement a content ratings system for the App Store. But, would that really work?

Murder, Satan, and gore! Gore! GORE! after the break.

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The iTunes Store has had its access restored in China, and is available once again. Last week, local internet police decided to block iTunes access due to a pro-Tibet album sold through the store. The web page for downloading the pro-Tibet album, which is suspected of prompting the iTunes closure in the first place, remains unavailable on the service. 40 iTunes users in China, including athletes in the Olympic village, downloaded the album before the censors interrupted sales. It’s thought that “Songs for Tibet,” an album released by the Art of Peace Foundation in support of Tibetan independence, is the album responsible for this.

Learn where this could lead after the break.

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It seems the latest internet service to fall victim to the “Great Firewall of China” is Apple’s iTunes Store. According to a New York Times article, this is likely the Chinese government’s response to the “Songs for Tibet” benefit album, which features many popular artists—including Rush, John Mayer, Sting and Dave Matthews—that was released on iTunes on August 5th, just before the start of the Beijing Olympics.

The start of the problems coincided with an announcement from an activist group which said that around 40 Olympic athletes had downloaded a pro-Tibet benefit album that was also carried on iTunes.

More after the break.

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The latest update from Apple for the iPhone is available on iTunes. Now the iPhone has made it up to version 2.0.2.

So what does it do? Apple lists bug fixes as the only change. I have a feeling this is the fabled 3G reception software fix that was rumored about earlier. And since Apple isn’t showing their cards on this one, we’ll have to wait to hear some reports from those of you who’ve updated.

Syncing your iPhone to iTunes won’t update your software quite yet. If you want the new firmware now (and really unless you’re device is jailbroken, why wouldn’t you?) all you have to do is click the “Check for Updates” button inside of the iPhone section of iTunes.

So go download the new firmware and tell us about your experiences. Is the 3G issue gone? Do programs load faster? Is it all around faster?

Probably one of the best features of iTunes and the iTunes store is the convenient access to thousands of free audio and video podcasts. With so many viewing and listening choices, where does one start?

Check out a few of my recommendations after the break.

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In addition to many features Apple overlooked in the YouTube app on the iPhone (think user pages, search results that actually find what you’re looking for, ability to log in and see subscriptions, etc.), Apple made a huge omission to the iPod app on the iPhone and the iPod touch: Podcast Syncing.

Why don’t podcasts update on the road? Apps do. We can buy music on the iTunes WiFi Store, and its library continually updates. There are tons of RSS apps that update. So, why can’t podcasts?

I understand why it wouldn’t be good for them to automatically download, but I would think that at least the titles could download, and the user can choose which ones to download fully.

Maybe there’s something I’m missing. Do you see any reason this can’t be done? Sound off in the comments.

Maybe it was the 2.0.1 iPhone firmware update, or more likely the iTunes 7.7.1 update, but it seems that Apple has fixed the iTunes app updating process.

Jump past the breaks to see what worked for me, and to get a status update.

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There are a couple of ways developers can entice you to buy their apps. They can give a great description, with an ample supply of pictures on the app store. In addition, it’s always nice to see a link to a full website with a video walk through, though not as many do this. And plenty of good reviews with a high star rating help to make that purchase a little more informed. This can, and does, work for many apps, but there are other ways.

Read on to learn what they are, and to find out how you can find the best deals (or even get apps for free).

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According to Ars Technica, Steve Jobs sent an e-mail to Apple employees last night admitting that MobileMe was launched too early.

“It was a mistake to launch MobileMe at the same time as iPhone 3G, iPhone 2.0 software and the App Store,” said Jobs.

More after the break.

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Do you dread syncing your iPhone to your computer because of the lengthy backup process that iTunes seems to always want to do?  Skipping this step is actually rather simple.

Find out how after the jump…

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