If you’re a hopeful author sitting on what you hope to be the next great literary classic — or, failing that, the next mopey emo vampire series that you think will sell like gangbusters amongst the indiscriminate Hot Topic tween market — great news: Apple’s just released information on self-publishing on the iBookstore.

It’s a bit more complicated than just uploading your fan fiction, of course. Basically, you need to have a manuscript in ePub format, a 13-digit ISBN, validate against epubcheck 1.0.5 and contain no unmanifested files, as well as a US Tax ID, a valid iTunes Store account, and an Intel-based Mac running Leopard or higher. But once you’re established, you can start selling your books online, even internationally.

I’ve been really waiting for this: I can’t wait to read the first self-published iBooks blockbuster. Hell, time to head back to Scrivener and try to write one myself.

Although still lower than the national average, Apple’s manufacturing partner Foxconn’s worker suicide problem is becoming such a public relations nightmare, so it’s understandable that their announced plan to raise wages for about 420,000 factory workers is being seen by many as a way to mitigate worker deaths.

The pay raise is substantial: each worker will currenly earning $131 a month will get a 20% pay hike. On Foxconn’s part, they claim the pay hike has been planned for some time… but it’s hard to believe the recent publicity about worker conditions hasn’t, at the very least, pushed this plan onto the fast track.

Employees seem hopeful. “[The pay hike] may help the suicide situation, because we workers just need money and the financial pressure on us is great,” one worker said.

We start the day with three MacBook deals: first is a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook with three years of AppleCare for $1,499. Next is a 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook with fifteen-inch screen for $1,499. Finally, there is a 2.66GHz i7 MacBook Pro with 17-inch screen and three years of AppleCare for $2,749.

Also on tap is the latest iPad freebies, including “InsanityX,” a puzzle game. We’ll also check out the latest crop of App Store price cuts, including “Sqrl Shooter, a squirrel hunting game.

Along the way, we’ll also take a look at bargains on Mac software, gadgets and other items. Details on these and many more items are available at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FncILxajmlw

Rats: just as we were hoping for a heart-pumping, fist-waving performance from Steve Ballmer, a la’ Monkeyboy iPod mash-up above, Microsoft has officially denied he will be appearing at Apple’s WWDC via Twitter:

Steve Ballmer not speaking at Apple Dev Conf. Nor appearing on Dancing with the Stars. Nor riding in the Belmont. Just FYI.

There’s hope, though perhaps he will be considering a stint on “So, You Think You Can Dance?” or emceeing a roller derby match.

Via App Zone

UPDATE: Microsoft denied Ballmer would be present with a pithy tweet. Darn.

There may be a few surprises at the upcoming June 7 WWDC keynote after all.

Barron’s reports that a sliver of that day’s agenda (exactly seven minutes) has been allotted to a Microsoft presentation. Speculation is that the microphone would be handed over to none other than that bouncy preacher with the overactive sweat glands himself, Steve Ballmer. He just may be giving that signature rallying cry of “Developers! Developers! Developers!” to a Mac audience:

Trip Chowdhry, an analyst with tiny Global Equities Research, contends that 7 minutes of the June 7 keynote by Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been blocked off for a presentation by Microsoft (MSFT) to talk about Visual Studio 2010, the company’s suite of development tools. Chowdhry says the new version of VS will allow developers to write native applications for the iPhone, iPad and Mac OS. And here’s the kicker: he thinks Microsoft’s presentation could be given by none other than Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

Using VS would allow PC folks to make apps without having to switch over to a Mac and employ Xcode, reasonable enough, but the disparity in speaking styles (and clothing styles) make Ballmer’s air time at the Apple event a little hard to imagine.

If the spectacle is anything like the fake video above of his incursion at MacWorld, sign me up.

China Telecom, the nation’s largest fixed-line carrier, has up until now, stood on the sidelines as Apple’s iPhone entered the Asian marketplace. Now comes word the carrier will enter the fray, joining China Mobile in expressing interest in offering the iPad.

“If there’s a demand from customers, we welcome any creative new device,” China Telecom CEO Wang Xiaochu said Tuesday. Wang said his company and Apple are evaluating customer interest in the device, according to the Wall Street Journal. “Both of us have to evaluate the market situation in China to see how large the market demand would be,” he said. “It will determine whether we have any interest in any cooperation.” The telecom is also working with Research In Motion and Palm. As in the U.S., Chinese carriers are eying smart phones as a way to gain more revenue.

The Windows era is over announces Joe Wilcox at Betanews. Is it?

He certainly makes a compelling argument. Like other tech behemoths before it, Microsoft’s products are simply being rendered irrelevant by new technologies, new ideas, and new products that have come out of the blue and swept them aside.

Apple didn’t even need to release the iPad overseas in order for it to become an international hit, according to analytics released by AdMob on the day before the iPad’s official international launch.

According to AdMob’s data, international usage of the iPad hovered at around 25% of total traffic in April.

That’s an amazing number, but it groks with my own experience living in Germany: iPads are fairly easy to find here on eBay and Craigslist, at entirely reasonable premiums. The iPad may be big in the States, but it’s going to be huge in the rest of the world.

Egretlist is a neat idea for an iPhone application, based on the data you store inside Evernote.

The app looks inside your Evernote notes (Evernotes?) for checkboxes, and extracts those items on their own. Then it re-arranges and re-displays them in a very smart, Moleskine-style notebook format.

What I like about this idea is that the todo items retain their context inside Evernote. You can keep a short list of todos with the other notes and info that relate to them – then, when you simply want to see the todo list as a whole to see what you should do next, Egretlist gives you that at-a-glance overview.

The Evernote team are impressed as well, and they’ve published an interview with the Egretlist developer that explains the thinking behind it in more detail.

The Asian electronics giant Foxconn is in full damage control mode after yet another suicide at one its giant Chinese factories, which cheaply pump out electronics for Apple and others. But one of the company’s representatives made an unfortunate statement when talking about the conditions at its factories:

“There is a fine line between productivity and regimentation and inhumane treatment,” said Louis Woo, an aide to Mr. Gou at Hon Hai. “I hope we treat our workers with dignity and respect.”

But of course, that’s not true at all. There’s a huge difference between productivity and inhumane treatment, not a “fine line.” And it’s that gap that makes all the difference.

Foxconn has a reputation for a stressful and oppressive work atmosphere. Employees are paid relatively well, but are pushed hard to produce and are not allowed to talk to each other during work, according to reports. The work is repetitive, mind-numbing and robotic. Stress, isolation and hopelessness: it’s a recipe for trouble.

Apple and the other tech companies that are Foxconn’s customers must bear some responsibility here. It’s time Apple stepped up its annual audit of contractors and lived up to its promise of “ensuring the highest standards of social responsibility.”