In the wee hours of the morning, Nintendo very quietly announced the successor to its wildly successful line of Nintendo DS gaming handhelds: the Nintendo 3DS.

Following Nintendo’s recent trend of embracing bold and unconventional gaming hardware (e.g. the Nintendo Wii’s motion-sensing controls, or the original Nintendo DS’s dual screen / touchscreen approach) the 3DS, as its name implies, promises to bring full 3D without glasses to handheld gaming.

What’s of interest to the announcement for Apple fans, though, is the timing. Like many tech companies, Nintendo tends to announce its biggest products at industry events. The Nintendo DS is such a wild success for the company, they’d be sure to announce their follow-up handheld at a major expo, such as May’s E3 Expo.

Instead, though, Nintendo chose to announce the 3DS with a terse press release and a promise to give more details in May…. following right on the heels of a report that shows that the iPhone and iPod Touch have claimed 19% of the handheld gaming market from Nintendo, thanks to the App Store, in only 21 months.

This announcement has all the hallmarks of a hastily made pacifying gesture to Nintendo investors alarmed by Apple’s unexpected success in the handheld gaming market: “Don’t worry, we’re not resting on our laurels, we’ve got something new up our sleeves.”

I’m eagerly anticipating E3’s 3DS announcements. My guess is that the App Store has changed the mobile gaming development scene forever, and an integral part to Nintendo’s own strategy will be to extend their WiiWare downloadable games service to the 3DS while opening it up to public submissions.

It’s all fun and games until someone pokes their eye out with a pencil – or Apple focuses on the portable gaming market. That could be Sony and Nintendo’s thinking amid news that the iPhone and the iPod touch now have 19 percent of the market. Even worse for the gaming veterans: Apple saw 500 percent growth in gaming software revenue during an otherwise down market.

Apple had five percent of the revenue from U.S. video game software sales in 2009. While 5 percent doesn’t sound like much, its a 500 percent jump when compared to the one percent the Cupertino, Calif. company held in 2008.

No one here’s going to argue that the App Store can’t be arbitrary and borderline tyrannical… but you know, sometimes developers get what’s coming to them: Zits & Giggles, a high-brow dermatological simulator, has been pulled from the App Store after its creator, Tommy Refenes, told an audience at San Francisco’s Game Developer Conference that he “absolutely f***ing hate(s) the iPhone App Store.” And that f-bomb ain’t “fudge.”

Of course, there’s more to this than that. Refenes seems to have had an axe to grind with Apple, having raised Zits & Giggles price from $0.99 to $15.99 to $299.99 to $399.99 over a period of about six months. Shockingly, the app still managed to sell fourteen copies at the price of $299.99.

What was the point of all of this? To prove how crummy the App Store is because it’s not aimed at “real gamers,” apparently.

“My conclusion to all of this is that the people you’re selling games to on the App store, they’re not necessarily gamers. There are some games that sell very well on the App store, but for the most part, when you have stuff like Street Fighter and Assassin’s Creed, the are a way to sell a brand, just like the Tiger handhelds were,” said Refenes.

Something tells me that Apple couldn;t really care less about some punk kid mouthing off, and this is really about selling a zit-bursting simulator for more than the cost of a real-life visit to a dermatologist.

Whatever, though: I think this is one zit on Apple’s backside we’re all perfectly happy to see excised.

It’s not easy being Steve Jobs: one minute, you’re the guy behind the world’s most admired company, the next you’re about to become a pin cushion turning a profit for a journalist as a sitcom.

Still, no matter what you think of Jobs, it’s cool that every now and then he takes a few seconds to answer email from everyday users.

He seems to have been busy with a lot of his famous, less-than-a sentence replies lately, but his answer to an Italian blogger at The Apple Lounge may be the first one he’s sent using an iPad. (Up until March 20, he was still using 3.1.2 iPhone OS.)

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3wvMKKjxmA

Revolutionary Concepts (who also did the excellent port of the early 80s’ laser disc game Cobra Commandhave just released a trailer for their forthcoming iPhone game, Frogman.

Basically, take the gameplay of Konami’s classic coin-op arcade game Frogger, plop it in a bright, cartoony 3D world and turn the eponymous amphibian into a superhero whose origins owe as much to Seth Brundle as they do to Ben Edlund.

It looks fantastic: as the developers state, “[It’s] Frogger’s 3rd Cousin Twice Removed – on Steroids!” There’s even an iPad version coming. For guys like me, who always loved Frogger, but wanted more levels, this looks like just the ticket. Here’s hoping it hits the App Store soon.

Apple’s U.S. retail stores will again sell iPhones for full, unsubsidized pricing without requiring proof you’ve also bought a two-year AT&T contract. The full-priced iPhones will still remain locked to AT&T, Apple’s exclusive U.S. wireless carrier.

First announced internally on Monday, the Apple memo obtained by Gizmodo states “customers purchasing iPhone as device only at full price are no longer required to have an AT&T account or provide a form of ID.”

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpTCS3g-cBY

According to a long and enthusiastic press release (doubtlessly designed to bring as much attention to the approval process as possible), Opera has announced that they have submitted their Opera Mini browser to the App Store.

Although Apple often takes an unfavorable view upon applications which duplicate functionality of built-in iPhone apps, Opera thinks their Mini browser gets around the issue by refusing to execute code natively on the handset. Instead, it asks Opera’s servers to translate, optimize and render the data into a format that only the Opera Mini browser can understand.

The result? A browser that is supposedly up to five times faster than Mobile Safari, especially on EDGE.

Don’t fret, my little poppies. I know you want a new MacBook Pro, with one of Intel’s sexy new Core iX mobile processors fused to its circuit board cerebellum. Uncle Steve says not to worry. Literally. But reading between (or below, or above) Steve Jobs’ sole line of text commenting on the matter, it’s easy to guess that a hardware fresh of the MacBook line is coming soon.

According to MacRumors, MacBook Pro shipments have “abruptly” become constrained, which generally points to an imminent refresh.

Even better, one of their readers wrote to Mr. Jobs directly, expressing concerns about Apple’s recent focus on the iPad and the lack of news about MacBook Pro refreshes.

I recognise the need for secrecy etc but I am really losing heart in the lack of vision for the MBP and Mac Pros. Not expecting a response but as someone who has personally switched dozens of people onto the mac way this is a sad email for me to compose.

To this maudlin complaint, Jobs played the world’s smallest violin on one hand while typing this reply into his iPhone with the other.

Not to worry.

If you’re in the market for a new laptop, you might want to start saving up your lunch money.

Paper dolls aren’t exactly the macho-must have accessory, but you’d be forgiven for one of these gracing your cubicle.

Steve Jobs in paper dolly form comes with standard issue black turtleneck, jeans, wire-rimmed glasses and carries an iPhone. (Maybe in version 2.0 he’ll sport an iPad?)

The cut out for this cubed Steve Jobs paper doll, the handiwork of Jay Hauf, can be downloaded so that you can do a little desk origami and keep him always with you.

Or you can get creative, like Hauf, and design a cube in your likeness to pal around with the King of Cupertino.

Who you calling square?

Via iPhone Savior

Could the iPad become another gaming platform for Apple, like the iPod touch or iPhone? While much attention has been focused on getting books onto the new tablet device, new research indicates games comprise almost half of the iPad applications tested so far.

Games accounted for 44 percent of early applications tested on the iPad, followed by entertainment, according to analytics firm Flurry. Only 3 percent of those initial apps are books, the company announced Monday. The iPad is set to begin shipping April 3.

You know the situation: you quit an app or close a document, and out slides a dialog (known as a “sheet” in OS X) asking you to Save / Don’t Save / Cancel.

On Windows, you can move through these buttons with the Tab key or the Arrow keys. But by default on OS X, that doesn’t work. Even some Mac users find this annoying, myself included.

There are two workarounds. The first is to learn some simple shortcuts.

In an impressive display of gritty stamina and just sheer ol’ gabbyness, a teenager from Mudelein illinois, a small town just north of Chicago, has injured herself while texting; not because she was texting while operating a vehicle, but because she was texting too much — something in the order of 3,000-4,000 texts a month, depending on which figure from  ABC’s story is accurate.

From time to time I come across an iPhone app I think would make a great gift for a friend or family member (in this case, my mom, since she has an iPod Touch and everyone else in my family is either Apple-phobic or a Luddite). Problem is, it just seems too authoritarian to send them a $5 iTunes Store gift card with stipulations on how to spend it.

Well, problem solved: Apple is apparently now allowing individual apps to be given as gifts. Although no official word has come from Apple — the heads-up comes from the folks at TUAW — I clicked on the  “Gift This App” menu item and, sure enough, was taken to a screen to handle the details.

Presumably, the gift is actually a code similar to the redeem codes app reviewers typically receive from developers when reviewing apps. The gift can be emailed or printed out and mailed, but can only be redeemed by residents of the same country as the purchaser, and can’t be bought with iTunes store credit.

[via TUAW]

Keyboard launcher app Alfred has been coming along nicely since we last covered it.

The latest release takes it to 0.5 and adds a bunch of good stuff, including a built-in basic calculator, support for Google’s “I’m Feeling Lucky” and Wolfram Alpha, and the ability to change keywords for specific web search commands. So, the default command to search Twitter is “twitter”, but you can now edit that to “ts” if you like.

Also hidden away in the newly enlarged preferences panel is this “Special” item. It says: “Do not press this button”

Got that? Don’t press it.

Just don’t.

Pressing the button is a bad idea. That’s why they tell you not to press it.

Under no circumstances should you download this software and press this button. None whatsoever. Got that?

Good.

Here in the UK, politics is in a strange limbo and will be for the next few weeks. The sitting Labour government has to call a General Election very soon (most bets are on April 6th for Prime Minister Gordon Brown to visit the Queen to ask her permission).

As a result, not much is happening. The political parties are making frantic behind-the-scenes preparations for the election, while the politicians are going through the motions, waiting for the official election announcement to be made.

All of which makes this morning’s speech by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in which he announced a new official 10 Downing Street iPhone app, all the more surreal.

Brown is not well known for any love of technology (although I think he’s slightly more tech-savvy than his hopelessly Luddite predecessor Tony Blair, who openly admitted his complete ignorance of all things technical). But what annoys me more than anything else is that Brown should waffle on about Britain’s digital future on one hand, while his Government desperately tries to push the disastrously flawed Digital Economy Bill through Parliament with the bare minimum of debate.

That Bill, if passed, will allow household internet connections to be cut off permanently on the say-so of vaguely-defined “copyright holders”. The music and film industries are strongly in favour; pretty much everyone else, including the ISPs, is very strongly against. It’s a case of lobbying overtaking common sense.

If you live in the UK and, like me, you think this rush to push through a bad law is a bad thing, you should do something about it – soon.

I doubt this is exactly going to be the next Helvetica, and the video after the break is definitely no Helvetica: The Movie, but if you’ve been looking for a font meticulously crafted from 540 color-coded app icons, iPhone is the font for you.

If your iPhone 3Gs just can’t handle your video needs and you need to get serious without going pro, JVCs latest handheld camcorder, the Everio GZ-HM550, has a lot to recommend it: this is an affordable and lightweight camera capable of shooting at full HD resolution of 1080p.

The Everio GZ-HM550 has excellent specs for the price, including a 10.6 megapixel CMOS sensor, 32GB of inbuilt storage, an SD / SDHC expansion slot, 16x optical zoom and the lesser (but still nice) ability to use the camera to take 9MP still shots.

One of the more interesting ways the Everio GZ-HM550 differentiates itself from the competition, though, is through its integrated Blueooth module, which will allow you to remote control the camera’s play, zoom and record functions through your cellphone, as well as use your phone’s GPS abilities to geotag your videos through Google Earth.

Otherwise, the Everio GZ-HM550 plays well with Macs, allowing videos to be directly exported to iTunes and synced with your iPod or iPhone.

If you’re interested in adding another camera to your bag, the JVC Everio GZ-HM550 is on sale now for just $799.95.

MEDL Technology’s The Panel is a monitor you can travel with: a slim, rechargeable 13-inch monitor that will work with just about any major device over USB… no VGA, MiniDisplay or HDMI port required.

Weighing just 2.2 pounds and lasting over five hours a recharge, the 1280 x 800 LED-backlit Panel will hook up with about any device that can interface over USB, including PCs, Macs, iPhones, Ipods, DVD players, digicams and video game consoles.

This actually looks pretty useful. Not only can you use it as an easily totable secondary monitor, but you could use the Panel to bring lots of not-so-portable machines on the road with you.

Unfortunately, we’re still waiting for a price and release date, which means we’ve probably got a few months to go yet before we use the Panel to bring our Mac Mini to the local Starbucks for its debutante appearance.

We start the week with a deal on Apple’s mac mini. This bargain covers the 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo model for $556. Next up is a refurbished Nikon D90 body. This digital SLR is rated at 12.3MP and is priced at $699. Finally, our top trio includes new App Store freebies, including 80s Galaxy, a classic retro game.

As always, details on these and many more bargains are available on CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Is there a cause-and -effect when it comes to the growth of Apple retail outlets and increasing market for the Cupertino, Calif. company? While pointing to a direct link may be too strong, one analyst is suggestion a potential correlation between the two.

In a report released overnight to investors, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty talks about the “Positive Correlation Between Apple Store Expansion and Mac Market Share.” Just two examples: Between Sept. 2003 and Sept. 2009, Apple opened 123 U.S. stores. During the same period, the Mac’s U.S. marketshare grew from 3 percent to 9 percent. In Western Europe, after Apple opened 33 stores, the company’s marketshare jumped from 1.5 percent to 5 percent.

Sprint unveiled this weekend a new ad using the iPhone to promote the wireless carrier’s 4G service while at the same time knocking competitor AT&T. The ad, entitled “Make Your Phone 4G,” was posted to YouTube. The spot promote’s Sprint’s Overdrive device, permitting any iPhone, or other Wi-Fi-enabled handset, to access the carrier’s 4G network.

In the ad, two men (one intriguingly named “Steve”) sit on a park bench and hold a conversation. Steve tells his friend Matt that his iPhone is “limited to AT&T’s 3G speeds.” A voice-over then claims Sprint’s Overdrive 4G hotspot will deliver data speeds “up to 10 times faster” than AT&T.

Apple has started promoting ten-pack, WiFi-only iPad bundles to educational institutions… but those looking for the usual generous Apple education discount will be disappointed here.

According to MacRumors.com, this is the breakdown of the 10-packs currently available:

BF822LL/A: iPad Wi-Fi (16GB) $4,790
BF825LL/A: iPad Wi-Fi (16GB) with AppleCare Protection Plan for iPad – Auto Enroll $5,580
BF823LL/A: iPad Wi-Fi (32GB) $5,790
BF826LL/A: iPad Wi-Fi (32GB) with AppleCare Protection Plan for iPad – Auto Enroll $6,580
BF824LL/A: iPad Wi-Fi (64GB) $6,790
BF827LL/A: iPad Wi-Fi (64GB) with AppleCare Protection Plan for iPad – Auto Enroll $7,580

In other words, at the end of the day, schools hoping to introduce their students to tablet computing and e-reading can only expect $20 knocked-off the price of each iPad, regardless of price.

Well… it’s something, I guess, although it looks like the real carrot here is the savings on AppleCare, since opting to buy a 10-pack with AppleCare knocks another 200 bucks off the price.

Either way, don’t think you can use this deal to get around Apple’s 2 iPads per customer rule: you’ll need an authorized education purchaser login to take advantage of the deal.

Developers will gather at eBay offices in San Jose for a weekend event aimed at creating applications for the iPad.

Organized BarCamp style, the first iPad DevCamps will be held from April 16-18. In addition to new apps, DevCampers  — experienced Cocoa Touch developers, web developers, UI designers and testers — will also squeeze their cerebellums on how to best migrate Mac OS X applications and test and optimize iPad applications. The weekend workshop costs $50, but the cost may be offset by sponsors.

It’s organized by Raven Zachary, who runs iPhone agency Small Society and fathered previous iPhone DevCamps.

Not in Silicon Valley? Satellite dev camps are in the works around the US (Colorado, Portland, New York, Boston) and the globe (Brazil, Switzerland, Munich) check the list for complete locations.

Not that there was any doubt which app marketplace had the most apps out there, but sometimes, seeing it all laid out there as empiric data points on a chart can really put things in fresh perspective.

Take this chart just posted by Silicon Valley Insider, which ranks all four major smartphone providers according to how many apps they have available on their marketplaces.

Of course, we knew Apple was destroying pretty much everyone out there in volume of apps available. Of the competition, Android’s doing best: they’ve multiplied their app catalog sixfold in the last nine months (to Apple’s own 3.5x) but unless they keep that up for the next 18 months, they’re not likely to catch up… especially with the iPad imminent.

As for RIM and Palm? The fresh perspective here isn’t that Apple’s beating the competition… it’s that they’ve managed ripped the heads off of both RIM and Palm’s steaming App Marketplace trunks.

Don’t have the scratch to pick yourself up an iPad when it is released next week? Well, as long as you’ve got six hundred CDs lying around, we’ve got good news for you: thanks to a little company called iPodMeister, you can trade in your old, unwanted CDs and DVDs for pristine Apple swag.

It’s not a scam. iPodMeister was founded by a group of musicians and students who realized that they could make a lot more selling used CDs abroad than locally. They have pretty strict rules about what CDs or DVDs are eligible, but if it’s in its original casing with the original inset and as long as it isn’t a bootleg, they’ll probably accept your disc.

So how many CDs or DVDs will an iPad cost you? A 16GB iPad WiFi will cost you 600 CDs or DVDs, with the 32GB costing 700 and the 64GB costing 800GB. On the other hand, if you want an iPad 3G, you’ll need to drop 950 CDs or DVDs for the 16GB, with the 32GB costing 1050 and the 64GB costing 1150.

It’s not exactly a great trade if you’d be willing to try to sell your CDs or DVDs yourself, but if you’ve already digitized the vast majority of your music collection, this is a pretty good deal. And heck, if you haven’t digitized your old CDs, but still want in, iPodMeister will even rip them for you for the cost of another 100 to 250 trade-in CDs.

[via New York Times]