Over the years, Napster has pupated from an illegal peer-to-peer music sharing network to a streaming audio subscription service, and today marks another surprising evolution in a brand that has, over the past decade, meant all things to all men: it’s now an iPhone app.

10-4, you heard that correctly: Apple has finally approved Napster on iTunes as a free application. Weighing in at just 1.8MB, Napster will stream over 10 million songs to you on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, provided you’re willing to give a Hamilton a month to Napster LLC (which the App Store listing proudly reminds us is “a Best Buy company”) for their Napster plus Mobile Access subscription.

Okay, it’s not the long delayed U.S. launch of our favorite streaming music service, Spotify. None the less, it’s great to see so many options for streaming your music start hitting the App Store, and I think it heralds great things for Apple’s own entry into the Cloud: clearly, whatever Apple’s got planned, they don’t think existing services like Napster or Spotify are a threat. iTunes Live, when it comes, is going to do things we didn’t even know we wanted.

This week’s must-have iOS games include the newest addition to the The Sims series with some fantastic new features, guns galore in the latest Time Crisis arcade shooter, and Gameloft’s impressive Prince of Persia game in HD on the iPad.

Check out a few of our favorite games from the past week after the break!

Turn your videos in to cartoons, share you favorite books, movies & TV shows with friends, and make notes with the best interactive notepad in the world; all with apps featured in this week’s must-have iOS apps.

Check out a few of our favorites from the past week after the break!

According to a story on Network World a cease and desist letter was sent by Apple to Newsday about their popular and viral iPad app commercial that I wrote about last week.

The commercial demonstrated one way the iPad could not possibly replace a newspaper — using it as a fly swatter. If you use the iPad to swat flies according to the commercial the iPad screen will shatter. Allegedly Apple wasn’t to happy about that ad.

Network World received the e-mail below, but wasn’t able to confirm its authenticity:

“Newsday got a cease and desist letter threatening all of our apps, if we did not remove the commercial immediately. They took exception to the fact that the (iPad) glass shattered into large jagged pieces … Your instincts are correct.”

The e-mail above leaves me feeling a bit disturbed, since we all know how controlling Apple has been over iTunes App Store content. However, I highly doubt that Apple would resort to these tactics just to get a commercial pulled.

Something doesn’t feel right about this and I’ve contacted Apple for comment. I’ll post their response or refusal to respond here later.

In the mean time you can try to catch a glimpse of this commercial, while you still can, via YouTube. The original video that I linked to last week has been pulled from YouTube.

[via Network World]

Google Voice apps have had a chaotic history appearing in and then disappearing from the iTunes App Store. The “official” excuse was duplicity of iPhone features, but now it looks like Apple is putting all these excuses aside by allowing, Andrea Amann’s, GV Connect app into the App Store.

The Commodore 64 emulator application for iPhone was pulled from the App Store by Apple in September 2009 for leaving its BASIC interpreter intact and accessible via a backdoor hack. This week, the app has returned after some rework by its creator, Manomio — with BASIC included.

Calloo! Callay! It’s a frabjuous day for Mac Pro and mini owners looking to match the new iMac’s biggest and most beautiful display.

After months of waiting, Apple has finally made its new 27-inch LED Cinema Display available for purchase, featuring a 2560 x 1440 resolution, a 178-degree viewing angle, a universal MagSafe connector for charging MacBooks, a built-in iSight, microphone and 49-watt speaker system, as well as three USB 2.0 ports.

You can pick it up now for $999 from Apple’s online store, with delivery slated within one to two weeks.

Samsung is attempting to break into the growing tablet market with a full-court press against the Apple iPad. The Android-based Galaxy Tab device will be available on all four U.S. carriers: Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T, which already offers 3G service for the iPad. Although pricing and availability are still not settled, two carriers said the Samsung device could be available either in weeks or months.

AT&T announced it would sell the Galaxy at its retail stores and from its website “in the coming months.” Along with offering 3G service for the iPad, AT&T is currently the exclusive provider for the iPhone.

A second-generation iPad with video-chat could appear in early 2011, according to a report. Suppliers are preparing to ship “ultra-thin glass-based touch panels” to Apple at the start of the year’s first fiscal quarter.

The updated iPad will remain with a 9.7-inch screen, but include Apple’s FaceTime video-chat feature which uses Wi-Fi connections, according to Taiwan-based industry publication DigiTimes. In addition, Apple is in “advanced testing stages” of an iPad with an front-facing camera used by FaceTime, according to anonymous sources sited by AppleInsider. FaceTime is already available on the iPhone 4 and latest iPod touch.

Talk of the iPad cannibalizing the netbook, notebook, or entire PC industry, has long been around. However, now comes two more voices – this time from both the analyst world and the CEO suites. The iPad has “cannibalized sales from laptop PCs by as much as 50 percent,” Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn told interviewers earlier this week.

The statement, while dramatic on its own, appears bolstered by a Wall Street analyst who reported Thursday U.S. notebook growth fell 4 percent in August, the first time that product has seen negative growth. Noting the steep decline matches the iPad’s introduction, Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty blames “tablet cannibalization” partially for the drop in notebook growth.