Although e-readers like the Amazon Kindle and the new (and maligned) Barnes & Noble Nook are certainly tempting additions to a gadget fetishist’s armoire of doodads, I’ve never had much interest in owning one.

My ambivalence isn’t simply due to the fact that I think books conveyed as mere digital information is less sensual and vibrant than books as a medium: there is that, but I have still enjoyed reading e-books (thanks to Gutenberg.org) for most of the last decade. It’s mostly because I only enjoy reading e-books in certain circumstances: for example, when waiting for a subway, or in bed with the lights off. The e-ink panels of the Kindle and the Nook don’t work in the dark, which means my fleeting interest in e-books can only be satisfied with backlit devices. A few years ago, that was through my Pocket PC and the fantastic e-book program, uBook ; these days, it’s through my iPhone and the Stanza e-reader app.

Stanza is fantastic, of course, but with the release of the Kindle for iPhone app earlier this year, I’d been interested in supplementing my iPhone e-reading with Kindle books for awhile, only to be stymied by the fact that Amazon’s app was for US audiences only. But today, that’s changed: Apple has finally introduced its Kindle for iPhone App to international users.

It’s the same app as before, allowing you to purchase, download and read hundreds of thousands of books through the Kindle Store while syncing your notes and bookmarks across devices… the only difference is it now works on iPhones and iPod Touches in over sixty different countries.

I tend to doubt Kindle for iPhone will replace Stanza as my default e-reader on the iPhone — it’s hard to beat Stanza’s vast library of free classics — but I’m at least looking forward to finally being able to supplement it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YwC3PXB_Ns

Choosing a Twitter iPhone app seems to go something like this for me: I play around with one, mess around with another, poke at a third, go back to the first…and because they all largely have the same features, the decision becomes acutely personal — I’ve picked one that just feels right to me (which happens to be TweetDeck).

Then HootSuite came along on Thursday and messed up my whole process — it contains two new features not yet seen on a Twitter app: the ability to fire off tweets at a predetermined time; and a screen that tracks Twitter statistics.

Of course, it also features integration with the HootSuite web app, photo sharing and all the other requisite stuff that any Twitter app worth its salt should boast.

HootSuite isn’t free, but it’s on sale at the App Store for two bucks (a dollar off) till December 17th. Stay tuned for a head-to-head comparo later this week.

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHRSDWZC_m4

Is this the fabled Apple Tablet so spoken about on the collected gadget rumor sites of the Internet in that hushed whisper usually reserved for mythological artifacts of the gods like Achilles’ Spear or Hercules\ Cod Piece?

Originally posted by French site Nowhereelse.fr, the video purports to show a prototype of the Apple Tablet browsing through an Ikea catalog through a touchscreen interface effortlessly infused with the usual Apple flourishes: multitouch, cover flow and shake to shuffle.

It’s a gorgeous looking interface… but note the bluish tinges around the operator’s swiping, pinching and swishing digits: that’s blue screen technology, my friends.

In other words, to the question “Is this the Apple Tablet?” we must sadly answer: “No, it’s jolly well not.” Still, I have to say, it gives me hope: I’ve long thought of the Apple Tablet in terms of a colossal, book-sized iPhone, which is not a product I’ve ever particularly wanted. If this counterfeit video shows anything, it’s that the potential of the Apple Tablet is far, far greater than the name might first imply.

[via TUAW]

Could coal in Apple’s stocking turning into diamonds for the Cupertino, Calif. company? While reports suggest Apple is delaying shipping its popular 27-inch iMacs due to display issues, some see it as a potential bonanza. Already one of the most popular consumer items for the holiday season, the iMac could join the iPhone in record sales.

“The company may be headed for another blow-out quarter”, writes AllThingsDigital. That’s if Apple’s weekend explanation holds true.

Will an apology be enough to satisfy frustrated buyers of the new 27-inch iMacs? Over the weekend, the Cupertino, Calif. company said delivery of its popular but ill-fated large screen desktop computers may be delayed. However, missing from the statement was any mention of the iMac’s much-publicized display issues.

“The new iMac has been a huge hit and we are working hard to fulfill orders as quickly as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience or delay this may cause our customers,” Apple said in an announcement. Although Apple is delaying shipments for two weeks, some resellers are encountering ones up to two-months, according to Monday reports.

Apple’s long and tortuous travail trying to solve its 27-inch iMac production woes doesn’t look likely to end before the New Years, according to reports from authorized resellers who say that Apple has delayed shipping their premium all-in-ones for at least two weeks until they can figure out the cause of the 27-incher’s common graphic woes.

A plea for help with existential ramifications found on Yahoo answers:

“How come my iphone never rings?
I had it six month it never ring, y?”

Additional details:

There are four days left to provide the right answer.

Via Faster Times

The iTunes App Store saw a mass overhaul over the weekend in a move to more vibrantly showcase apps on their individual pages while simultaneously presenting more relevant information to potential buyers.

Ah yes! Another Apple patent to swoon over! What mad genius will we glimpse in the minds of Cupertino’s engineers through the soothsaying of this sheath of dry legalese and blusterless line drawings? An Apple Tablet that also sports the incredible dual-function of the radioactive lumen output of a tanning lamp? The iPoiuyt: a brand new Shuffle in the impossible shape of a blivet? Some sultrily seamless and unibody sex bot?

If only. Instead, the latest Apple patent, published on Thursday but filed in June 2008, describes a new universal dock for the iPhone and iPod. The idea is to get rid of all of those cheap plastic iPod dock adapters and instead use an elastic, form-fitting substance which moulds itself around each of the iPod line’s unique shapes.

It’s not a bad solution, but I wouldn’t exactly expect this patent to ever become a retail product. Squishy elastic rubber doesn’t exactly seem like a good fit for Apple. I would imagine that future iPods and iPhones will adopt a charging and docking system similar to the Palm Pre’s galvanized lozenge, the Touchstone Charger, as soon as wireless USB makes a little more headway.

UK newspaper The Guardian this morning launched its iPhone app.

And wow, it’s pretty damn good.

The Funk Store

Apparently, it’s been irrational Apple-Bashing Weekend for the last few days, and no one bothered to alert us here at the Cult. Lest the outlandish claims about the awesomeness of AT&T’s network from the New York Times get all the attention, Danish tech analyst Strand Consult (basically the Rob Enderle of northern Europe) wants to bend your ear with a list of inaccurate or out-dated complaints about the iPhone. Oh, and call iPhone users liars and victims of Stockholm Syndrome, too.

There are many similarities to the Stockholm Syndrome and from an outside perspective there is little doubt that many mobile phone manufacturers are most probably envious of the users on Apple’s platform. In reality the iPhone is surrounded by a multitude of people, media and companies that are happy to bend the truth to defend the product they have purchased from Apple.

The alleged analysis attacks the iPhone for 20 “problems” that its users allegedly defend, many of which are strictly matters of taste or downright false. This includes the usual suspects, like having to use Apple’s designated carriers (an obnoxious reality) and poor network performance (likely tied to the previous) and things that most iPhone users don’t mind at all, like the lack of a hardware keyboard, SD card slot, FM radio, and removable battery cover.

The article, however, also attacks the iPhone for its lack of a 3G radio, MMS, SMS forwarding, poor camera, and tethering, issues that, at least outside the United States, have been resolved for a minimum of six months and up to 18 months. Even more comically, it tilts against abstractions as the iPhone is a “low-technology phone wrapped in a sleek design.” Yes, the low-technology that  powers the Palm Pre and Motorola Droid. Such a laggard, the iPhone.

Also, horror of horrors, the iPhone doesn’t allow users to install their Web browser of choice! Worse, Strand alleges, the iPhone won’t run random Java games written for LG flip phones circa 2003. Both of these issues have been keeping me awake late at night, I must say.

Honestly, the few credible points the article makes (too much crapware in the App Store, inconsistent App approval process, no third-party multitasking) are well-covered everywhere in the entire world and consistently irritate every iPhone user I know, and the rest of it is irrelevant or delusional.

I mean, if you’re going to allege that I’m sympathizing with my abuser, at least say something original, OK? It’s pathetic that so many tech journalists are willing to print as gospel the words of the clearly biased.

Strand Consult via CNet via TUAW

Everyone knows that the one thing holding the iPhone back in the U.S. is AT&T’s poor 3G coverage, right? With a dropped signal, it can transform from one of the world’s most capable mobile computers to a video iPod that plays a pretty mean version of Doom. Everyone knows the problem lies with the network’s inability to handle iPhone data traffic, as iPhones have no such problems in the European market, Japan, and other regions where it has a major foothold — places where the network load is so much not a problem that they enable data tethering from laptops.

Well, everyone knows but the New York Times and the mobile industry analysts — some of whom work for AT&T — they interviewed about the matter. In a dreadful column titled “AT&T Takes the Blame, Even for iPhone’s Faults“, one of the paper’s correspondents in Silicon Valley, Randall Stross, goes so far as to definitively declare that the iPhone’s design “is contributing to performance problems” and that with regard to Verizon, “AT&T has the superior network nationwide.” Oh, for crying out loud.

The App Store remains a bone of contention for many developers, but IUGO knew its A.D.D. game would throw multiple spanners in the works. That said, it wasn’t expecting its minigame collection with a decidedly risque bent would languish in the approvals process for months. At the end of November, it finally emerged, having been stripped of many games, but still boasting 70 quickfire challenges for iPhone gamers.

I spoke to IUGO Director of Business Development Sarah Thomson to find out about how A.D.D. came to be, and about IUGO’s struggles to get the game approved for the App Store.

After our recent post about Apple computers held hostage as they were sent to the FDA with documentation as if they were fruit, Susan Rosenberg, a public relations manager at UPS, cleared up the mystery in an email statement to Cult of Mac:

“Apple products are not being associated with fruit for import documentation or clearance. It’s coincidental that UPS groups the FDA and Dept. of Agriculture in the same tracking message as UPS provides detailed real-time visibility of events through our process.

The FDA does have import documentation requirements for low-level radiation-emitting devices with lasers such as CD-Roms or DVD components that are part of most any computer.”

Rosenberg points us to the Food and Drug Administration page about Radiation Emitting Products, where one is reminded that sending electronic products —  including those cell phones, ultrasound diathermy devices or microwave blood warmers you were going to pop in the post — will be inspected.  (Kudos to CoM readers who commented on the previous post that this was the real cause).

So, what are the delays about, then?

We wrap up the week with an assortment of accessories for your iPod or iPhone. From black wood-grained cases to slim fit, several deals are available on ways to house or protect your Apple treasures. We also have an 80 percent discount on iPod touch cases. Software is also on the price-chopping block, ranging from Apple’s iLife ’09 suite for $39 to an iPhone app on Asian painting.

For details on these and many more bargains, check out CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.

Is Apple taking a more lenient approach to approving App Store developers? After being beaten about the head and shoulders for it penchant to toss violators, the Cupertino, Calif. has approved a number of applications that used private software references. In the latest case, Apple approved iSimulate with only a warning.

“While your application has not been rejected, it would be appropriate to resolve this issue in your next update,” Apple e-mailed developer Vimov. The problem: iSumulate uses a private API to gain access to the iPhone’s multi-touch and accelerometer features.

Apple Friday sued Nokia, claiming the Finnish cell phone giant infringed 13 patents. The countersuit follows an October lawsuit by Nokia which alleged the Cupertino, Calif. iPhone maker had infringed 10 patents.

“Other companies must compete with us by inventing their own technologies, not just by stealing ours,” said Bruce Sewell, Apple’s General Counsel and senior vice president in a statement.

Lala, the streaming-music startup Apple recently purchased for a reported $85 million, was just the latest chess piece in a competition between Cupertino and the Internet giant Google. The Mountain View, Calif. company was in “serious discussions” to purchase La La Media prior to Apple’s recent acquisition, according to The Wall Street Journal. The newspaper Friday cited insiders with knowledge of the issue.

Although Apple was the victor in that case, Google had earlier paid $750 million for AdMob Inc., a mobile advertising firm that the Cupertino, Calif. based iPod-maker was also pursuing. The two cases reflect a heated competition between the two companies which are butting heads on a number of fronts. In the case of La La, Google wanted a greater piece of the online music pie (an area in which Apple is already well-entrenched) and Cupertino eyed AdMob as a path to greater involvement in advertising, a lucrative area for Google.

Despite the fact that the iPod Touch is increasingly being branded as a gamer’s device, Apple’s never had much truck with gaming… at least in-house. But new calls for a video game artist for the iPhone Gaming Group imply that Apple might be preparing to make a serious push into the gaming market, perhaps to better compete with other handhelds like the Nintendo DS.

Apple’s patents only rarely give us the first look at new products in Cupertino’s pipeline, but they can still be wholesome brain fodder to chew over, as they at least give us a glimpse at the current problems the company is trying to solve. Let’s mull over, then, Apple’s two latest patents, each as different from each other as it can be.

The first patent Apple has applied for is a “technology” that would allow their Geniuses to know when a device has been “compromised” by being opened. It’s not much of a technology: it’s just a little sticker affixed between an electronics component and the chassis’ removable lid. Think of it like Apple’s own iteration of that venerable classic of anatomic technology, the hymen: Open your laptop or iPhone and the sticker will tear in half, thus letting any future delvers know that your device has been sullied.

Clearly, the aim here is to give Apple an excuse to void warranties on modified machines, which is understandable if not entirely welcome.

Inspired (as legend goes) by a piece of pizza with a slice missing, Namco employee Tōru Iwatani first released the classic game Puck-Man to Japanese arcades almost thirty years ago. Later that year, Puck-Man came to the United States by Midway, although wisely renamed with the knowledge of just how tempting it would be to erase just a slight wedge of that first P‘s loop. The rest is history: America’s had Pac-Man fever ever since.

While the classic Pac-Man game has since been expanded into a franchise of quasi-sequels and spin-off titles, what you might not know is that original Pac-Man designer Tōru Iwatani never had any part designing the sequels until 2007, when he was invited by Namco and Microsoft to design a true sequel to his original game. The result was Pac-Man Championship Edition and it was the best Pac-Man games since Ms. Pac-Man. And now it’s available for the iPhone and iPod Touch for $3.99.

The financial crisis may be spurring a few Apple collectors to clean the computer room — after a couple of Apple Is we found on eBay, reader David Fulero tipped us off about this Lisa model up on the block.

She’s up for sale for just $999, a relative bargain if you consider the 26-year-old machine’s original sticker price was about $10,000 — something like $20,000 today.

If you like to game on your Mac, you’ve probably played something released by Aspyr Media. After all, what choice did you have? Aspyr has long been one of the pillars of the wobbly Mac gaming scene, porting over seventy games to OS X, including The Sims, Call of Duty 4, Civilization 4 and Quake 4. Short of restarting into Boot Camp, Aspyr has been the only way for Apple gamers to actually play most of the AAA game releases on their machines.

Sad news for Mac gamers, then. According to gaming site Big Download, Aspyr Media has laid off over fifty percent of its staff, with only a handful of team members now remaining in the office. The layoffs apparently happened weeks ago, but the news has only just gotten out.

Aspyr Media’s business is more than just Mac porting of course: they also port games from consoles to the PC, and recently ported the original Call of Duty to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Unfortunately, it looks unlikely that their core Mac team members got away unscathed. The Mac gaming scene just got even sparser.

If, like me, your Christmas shopping list has question marks next to two petulant twin nieces whose only interests seem to be quoting popular song lyrics and passages from Twilight on their Facebook pages with infinite, poorly spelled gravity (and who then quickly delete the helpful replies you leave criticizing them for being such idiots without even making a passive effort to absorb the stately, elder wisdom of your words)… well, why not consider buying them an iTunes gift card through Facebook?

Yes, the popular social networking site has just introduced an application that lets you buy iTunes gift cards for other users. The cards come in $5, $10, $15, $25 and $50 denominations, and the interface even allows you to select a date when the gift card should be delivered. The cards come in six designs: two holiday cards, two birthday cards, and two generic cards featuring those psychotropic iPod silhouettes at a rave.

For me, this is actually ideal. My nieces are fifteen years old, and I’ve long since given up on trying to suffer through a sulky, eye-rolling conversation with either of them long enough to try to ascertain their interests. Buying them an iTunes card through Facebook is exactly the sort of impersonal yet convenient gift that I’ve been looking for: it certainly beats this Edward Cullen laptop decal I was planning on getting for them.

Eastgate Systems has just announced Tinderbox 5, a major update to its venerable note-taking application.

“Note-taking” hardly covers it, though. Tinderbox is uniquely flexible and adaptable, in a league of its own when compared with all the other OS X notebooks.

As we approach the two weeks to Christmas mark, yet more deals are on tap. For the budget-conscious, there is a bevy of new MacBooks, starting at $860 for a 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo with 13-inch screen. For those preparing to put an iPod under the tree (or in your pocket), there is a 50 percent off sale on iPod nano accessories. To put a bow on all these bargains is a Mac Pro workstation powered by an 8 core 2.26 GHz Xeon processor and 10GB of RAM for $3,577.

For details on these and many more Apple-related items, check out CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.