Rarely consumed with a desperate rush to issue any new music of their own, electropop pioneers Kraftwerk have come up with a better idea: get the fans to do the work for them.

So the Kraftwerk app lets you inside the Kling Klang Studio, in a manner of speaking, giving you access to some cheerfully bleep-tastic musical buttons in exchange for nine of your fine American dollars.

Given that the App Store is awash with sequencers, loopers, samplers and other electronic music apps, many of which offer quite a lot more in terms of functionality, this one might be left to the fans only. But for those who value the looking-cool as much as the making-sounds, perhaps it’ll be nine bucks well spent.

An game app created by psychologists says it can help users extinguish their smoking habits.

Called Nicot, the $4.99 app is the result of a study by the Canada Research Chair in Clinical Cyberpsychology and the University of Quebec in Outaouais.

Researchers there say they found that virtually crushing butts in the game boosted quitting success rates by 15%. If the would-be ex-smokers also used pharmacological aids (patches, gum and the like) and attended a  follow-up clinic, those rates were boosted to 50%.

Increased data usage — particularly music downloads — fueled a 3.7 percent jump in fourth-quarter net profit for China Mobile, the world’s largest wireless carrier announced Wednesday. The news comes as Apple CEO Steve Jobs reportedly is ‘very interested’ in creating an iPhone that works on the nation’s home-grown 4G standard.

China Mobile earned 32.4 billion yuan during the quarter ended Dec. 31, higher than the 31.8 billion yuan analysts had expected. In the wake of the report, chairman Wang Jianzhou announced plans to increase handset subsidies by 15 percent in order to attract more data users. Data service revenue comprised 31 percent of the carrier’s operating revenue in 2010. Data “was an essential driver of total revenue growth,” Wang said.

Apple’s new iPad 2 is basically one big screen. So the very first accessory that many of us will look for is a protective case for our new iPad 2s.

On launch day I wasn’t aware of any other case options besides Apple’s very own iPad Smart Cover which was available for $39 (polyurethane) or $69 (aniline-dyed Italian leather). The Smart Cover isn’t even close to being a case since it just protects the iPad 2’s display. The sides and back are completely exposed and unprotected. It’s elegant, thin, and doesn’t add a lot of weight or bulk to the iPad 2.

The Smart Cover is very thin and fits the iPad perfectly. It’s so thin it feels like you haven’t really added anything to the iPad at all. Perhaps that is just an illusion after owning the first iPad, but regardless it just doesn’t add a whole lot to the iPad’s weight or thickness. That is how it feels without going crazy weighing it, measuring it, etc. It just feels right.

Every once and awhile, your Mac will decide not to eject a CD or DVD, for various reasons. It could be that it can’t detect the disk, it’s in an incompatible format, or that the disk itself is locking up the computer. But, no matter the reason, here are some quick fixes for ejecting stuck CDs and DVDs.

Even though the white iPhone 4 is supposedly on track for this Spring, why wait?

If you already own an iPhone 4, you can upgrade from black to white for just $150. BigShoulderDevices.com supplies all the parts you need to completely transform your current black iPhone 4 into a white one. The parts are so good, I suspect some of them may come from Apple through the back door.

There are a couple of issues, but is it worth the money? Continue reading to find out! Hint: The white iPad 2 plus the white iPhone 4 is a truly beautiful combination.

One of the drawbacks of the cheaper, WiFi-only iPad 2 is that it doesn’t have GPS — so it can’t run any of those beautiful fullscreen navigation apps.

GPS is limited to the more expensive 3G iPad models. But if you own a GPS-enabled iPhone, you’re in luck. The WiFi-only iPad 2 inherits GPS functionality when it’s tethered to an iPhone.

There’s long been a number of urban legends about how Apple came up with its iconic logo.

There’s the idea that the bite symbolizes knowledge, or that the overall image is a tribute to mathematician Alan Turing, who committed suicide by taking a bite of an apple laced with cyanide.

But here’s the real story.

The trailer for Rainbow Six: Shadow Vanguard is the first “interactive” game trailer I’ve seen. Check it out below. You hit the hotspots to “play” the game. Pretty cool. Reminds me of Myst.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I didn’t get the initial text from AT&T offering me 1,000 free Rollover minutes.  I had to beg for mine by sending a simple text containing the word “yes ” to a  number (11113020) that people shared with me.

I’d heard that AT&T was sending out texts or notices (not sure which) that some of the people asking for these minutes would not be getting theirs, but today beggar or not I got mine as you can see from the screen shot above.

Thank you AT&T!

So what about you? Did the AT&T overlords grant you 1,000 free Rollover minutes?

Two iOS game developers based in Japan are doing their bit to help out with the recent tragic events in their country by slashing the prices of some of their most popular iOS titles and donating 100% of the proceeds to the Red Cross Disaster Relief. Sega has reduced the price of all four of its Sonic titles, while Capcom has reduced the price of Street Fighter for a limited time:

• Sonic the Hedgehog – $1.99
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 – $2.99
• Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1 – $3.99
• Sonic Spinball – $0.99
• Street Fighter IV – $0.99

If you’ve been thinking about purchasing these games, there’s never been a better time to buy them, and they’re even more satisfying when you know your money is going towards such a great cause. And if you already own them, why not gift them to a friend?

The disastrous quakes and tsunamis in Japan remind us that natural disasters can strike anyone at any time without warning. (Actually, the Japanese had some warning, thanks to their billion-dollar earthquake warning system.) Japan’s crisis also reminds us that the first two things to go in many emergencies is electrical power and telephone service.

That’s why the iPhone can save your life. When the power goes out, the iPhone still has great battery life. When the telephone system is taken offline, it’s still got an Internet connection. But mostly, the iPhone has some incredibly useful emergency apps.

By downloading just 5 iPhone apps, you can prepare for any natural disaster.

Go here to read the whole story.

After the tragedy of the recent 9.0 earthquake and the resulting tsunami, Apple has decided not to launch the iPad 2 in Japan on March 25th.

“We are delaying the launch of the iPad 2 in Japan while the country and our teams focus on recovering from the recent disaster,” said Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris.

There is no rescheduled launch date planned, and the length of delay will depend upon how long it takes for Japan to recover from recent tragedies, which have culminated with the threat of meltdown at the earthquake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Are you looking for a MacBook with either a Core i5 or Core i7 processor? We might have the deals for you. First in the spotlight is a group of MacBook Pro Core i5 and Core i7 machines from the Apple Store. Prices start at $1,439 for a 2.53GHz i5 model. Next is a silicone case and screen protector for the iPad – just $6. Finally, there is another chance to grab a two-year warranty on your iPad for AppleCare-like protection, plus drops and spills.

Along the way, we also check out miscellaneous Mac gear, including iPhone docks, chargers and software. As always, details on these and many more items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Yesterday, Apple Bitch broke the news that Apple Stores would be opening an hour early today to start selling a new shipment of iPad 2s to customers. Today, they’re noting that while many stores did open early in case they had iPad 2s to sell, most stores received no new iPads at all… and those that did only got an extremely limited number of units (less than half a dozen).

I can personally confirm this, as I went down to Boston’s Boylston Street Apple Store this morning an hour before opening time. While the Boylston Street Apple Store did did have staff waiting at the door at 8:30am, nearly an hour and a half before opening time, they confirmed that they had no new iPad 2 units to sell when asked, and suggested checking back the next day at the same time.

Overall, if you haven’t ordered an iPad 2 already, it looks like we’re going to see an extremely constrained number of Apple Store iPad 2 units for the next month at least. However, reports indicate that the store will put any new units up for sale first thing the next morning after their delivery, so if you want an iPad 2 sooner rather than later, calling in late for work might be the only way to get one.

When it comes to attracting consumers to video subscription services, convenience wins out over other factors. That’s the message behind new research finding Netflix gets 60 percent of the U.S. digital subscription market, leaving Apple’s iTunes No. 3, with just 4 percent. Cable giant Comcast placed second, according to a NPD Group report on domestic digital video demand between January and February 2011.

The iTunes service tied with satellite provider DirecTV and entertainment behemoth Time Warner. Although the Apple service began in 2006, iTunes began renting movies in 2008 and 99-cent TV episodes in 2010. Despite consumers knowing iTunes had a more up-to-date inventory for rent, Netflix was given the nod due to the “overall shopping experience” and “value for price paid,” NPD announced Tuesday.

Here’s a weird fun fact for you on a slow news Tuesday: there’s a very real familial link between Apple CEO Steve Jobs and TV’s Homer Simpson. Here’s how.

As some of you may know, Steve Jobs was put up for adoption as an infant. What you may not know is that Steve Jobs’ birth parents are Joanne Carole Schieble and Abdulfattah Jandali, who put him up for adoption because they weren’t married at the time.

Later, when they married, they had another child: Mona Jandali. However, Jandali abandoned both Mona and her mother when Mona was five. Joanne eventually remarried, at which point Mona decided to take her stepfather’s name and became Mona Simpson.

Desktops? Laptops? The conversation has shifted to tablets, and Apple appears to be at the center of this whirlwind. Yet another research firm is forecasting the global growth of “tab computers.” Canalys expects to see 52 million of the devices shipped this year – and Apple’s iPad will account for 75 percent of the sales.

The numbers mirror an earlier Goldman Sachs forecast for 54.7 million tablets, 37.2 million from Apple. Analysts at JPMorgan had a more dire warning: there could be a tablet ‘bubble’ as rivals push production, yet see limited sales.

Leave it to Gelaskins, makers of some of the best looking protective “covers” for electronic gear on the market today, to have nearly 300 choices for personalizing your iPad2 already in stock.

Much of the artwork available for these striking gear condoms (printed on feather-light, flexible space-age material invented by 3M) is intricate, busy and wild — taking away, in some eyes, from the elegance of Apple’s iPad design.

Here, for readers’ consideration, then, are a dozen creations of a more subtle bent, which tend to both command one’s attention as artwork, while supporting a showcase for the latest iteration of Apple’s post-PC mobile communication platform.

Each iPad2 skin sells for $29.95 through the Gelaskins website, where you can see the whole mind-blowing collection — along with their vast inventory of skins for other devices.

OK, this is a little WTF, and I haven’t yet been able to verify it myself (because reception’s pretty good where I live), but: Boris Veldhuijzen van Zante over the The Next Web says he’s discovered a trick to improve iPhone 4 reception: stick it in a glass.

Although we won’t know for certain how many iPad 2 tablets were sold this weekend until Apple releases actual figures, that hasn’t stopped a patchwork of estimates and insider reports. The latest metric coming to us is that 7,200 of the next-generation devices were sold Friday at the Cupertino, Calif. company’s New York City flagship store, the first day the iPad was available.

While the report cites a “well-connected source,” the numbers seem to echo a statement on weekend iPad 2 consumer demand. Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster and his team found 1,109 people were lined-up at the Fifth Avenue Apple Store this weekend – up from 703 when the original iPad was released in 2010.

Speaking of Samsung, can you tell that Apple’s biggest rival in the nascent tablet market is feeling the heat from the iPad 2? According to new rumors and the leaked spec sheet above, Samsung’s already readying to counter Apple’s second-gen iPad by dropping the price of their 7-inch WiFi tablet the Galaxy Tab to just $399, undercutting the cheapest iPad 2 by $100 bucks.

It would be a smart move by Samsung. After the iPad 2 was announced, Samsung openly admitted that they would need to reconsider the pricing of their forthcoming Galaxy Tab 10.1, a ten-inch version of the original Galaxy Tab that is more iPad-like in form factor.

Of course, it also implies a certain degree of desperation to take a credible share of the tablet market from the iPad. At $399, Samsung would almost certainly be selling the Galaxy Tab at a loss. $399 is about what I think a Froyo-based 7-inch tablet should cost, but it’s probably not what it does cost to manufacture. Samsung won’t be able to keep this up forever.

If you like staring at silicon without its clothes on, you’ll love this: Chipworks has done a teardown of the iPad 2’s new A5 processor.

It’s a technical read, and frankly, I’m not Cylon enough to understand most of it. The most interesting detail for us laypeople is that it’s actually pretty honking huge: at 120mm, it’s actually more than twice the size of the A4’s 53mm CPU, allowing Apple to cram in more cores, transistors and a bigger GPU for more oomph all around.

According to Chipworks, the SoC is still pretty much off-the-shelf. It’s manufactured by Samsung, despite Apple’s rumored partnership with TSMC to build iPad 2 chips, so it doesn’t look like Apple’s given Sammy the boot just yet for daring to release their own tablet.

Ouch. If you haven’t ordered an iPad 2 yet, I hope you’re willing to wait over a month to get one, as iPad 2 shipping estimates have slipped again, this time to four or five weeks for most models.

iPad 2 shipping estimates have been slipping since mere hours after it went on sale online in the wee hours of Friday. Originally put up for sale online at 1AM PT with a 3-5 business day shipping estimate, that slipped in mere hours to 5-7 days, then to two weeks and now to over a month.

If you haven’t ordered your iPad 2 online yet, your best bet might be to drop by your local Apple Store on the way to work today. Rumor indicates that Apple Stores will open at 9am today to service iPad 2 sales on a fresh shipment, and I can confirm that, at least at the Apple Store I’m currently parked at, Apple employees are already bustling around inside.

Here’s an astonishing post from Kevin Rose, publishing an (anoymized) email from a friend of his who works for Apple in Japan.