Confirming that it won’t just be Apple’s iBookstore (and your own free ePubs) on the iPad, the New York Times today mentions that both Amazon and Barnes & Noble are both working on book stores of their own. While both market their own hardware devices, the Kindle and the Nook respectively, the iPad is expected to throw a huge spotlight on eBooks in general, and they want to benefit:

The Kindle app for the iPad, which Amazon demonstrated to a reporter last week, allows readers to slowly turn pages with their fingers. It also presents two new ways for people to view their entire e-book collection, including one view where large images of book covers are set against a backdrop of a silhouetted figure reading under a tree. The sun’s position in that image varies with the time of day.

At the offices of Barnes & Noble’s digital unit in New York, 14 developers have occupied a windowless room since January, completely redesigning the company’s iPhone app for the iPad, according to Douglas Gottlieb, its vice president of digital products. The developers hunch over Macs around a big table, and printouts and notecards are taped up on the walls.

The new app will let users flip through books quickly with finger swipes and customize fonts in multiple colors and sizes. Mr. Gottlieb said the company was talking to publishers about adding multimedia to digital books.

Neither company received one of those secret, early-access iPad units for testing, so while they may be simulator-ready for the April 3 launch, they may not want to release until they’ve had a chance to run their apps on the real hardware. Comic reader app Panefly, for example, thinks a bad day 1 experience with an app that worked fine in the lab but poorly on the actual iPad could “kill the train before it leaves the station”.

As to whether or not Apple will approve competing bookstores for the iPad App Store, TiPb’s always felt that the best indicator was Steve Jobs announcing iBooks as a separate, downloadable app rather than a built-in like iTunes Store. While this may have also reflected iBooks US-only availability, and there’s never any way to tell for sure what Apple will do until they do it, at the end of the day they want to move hardware and letting existing Kindle (and Nook) owners bring over their books is a great way to lower the barrier of iPad entry.

Right now, both the Kindle for iPhone [Free- iTunes link] and Barnes & Noble eReader for iPhone [Free - iTunes link] frequire a clunky web-based work around for purchasing books, however, and it would be nice to see that process actually integrated into the apps — like iBooks and the iBookstore.

So, given the choice, what will you be buying and reading your eBooks with — Amazon Kindle for iPad, Barnes & Noble eBook Reader for iPad, or Apple’s iBooks?

[NYT via AppleInsider]

Outside storing music in the iPhone’s built in iPod app, there are a variety of ways to simply stream the audio you want to listen to:

• Streaming internet radio/subscription apps are the obvious place to start. Slacker [iTunes link], Pandora [iTunes link], Pocket Tunes [iTunes link], Spotify [iTunes link]… the list goes on an on. Some are limited to the US (or just slightly beyond the US) or Europe, but those who have them in their area often swear by them. Some of these also provide local storage so you can keep some of the songs on your device for those occasions when a Wi-Fi or 3G isn’t available.
• Musical games, spearheaded by Tap Tap Revenge [iTunes link] and Rock Band [iTunes link] have shown that users are just as willing — sometimes even more willing — to buy songs for sport as they are for simple enjoyment. With in-app purchases, some of these games have even become music stores unto themselves.
• Musical apps, where an artist or group wants to create something more than just a song file or even iTunes LP, have also become fairly common on the App Store. These can range significantly in content and presentation, but they can and do bring the music.
• Storage apps, like MobileMe iDisk, Box.net, DropBox, etc. can give you access to the music you keep on the cloud. Just like they can view your documents and other files, they can typically play any supported audio format you’ve loaded them up with.
• Mobile Safari, the iPhone and iPod touch (and soon, iPad) web browser can play any music format Apple supports. Just tap on a link and the Quicktime player pops up, buffers, and plays your audio. This includes audio you’ve stored on your own web-enabled server setups. And it’s one of the few apps that’s allowed to keep playing in the background — when it doesn’t run out of RAM or lose connection or otherwise glitch-out.
• iTunes app, while it will only give you 30 seconds of music for sampling, will stream full-length podcasts if you tap on the title instead of the download button. If you prefer talking and creative commons to the latest premium hits, it’s a surprisingly useful option. And it will play in the background just like Safari (and potentially fail, just like Safari).

We’re all hoping iPhone 4.0 addresses that pesky “no streaming internet music while using other apps” multitasking miss we’ve suffered through lo these last 3 years, but in the meantime — what are you using to stream your music on your iPhone? Any tips and or tricks you can share?

Waiting for Apple’s iPad and its iBooks and iBookstore app? The outstanding Project Gutenberg has 30,000 free-as-in-beer-and-and-as-in-speech ePub format eBooks to help keep you start building your library today.

If you’re not already familiar with the geeky details, ePub is the open, free-flowing eBook format that Apple is using for iBooks. However, let’s caveat that “open” piece — ePub books bought from the iBookstore will be using Apple’s FairPlay DRM (digital rights management) which means that while ePub is a widely supported format, Apple ePub books won’t work on other devices, and ePub books using other DRM (like Adobe Content Server) won’t work on the iPad. Headache, right? Well, the good news is DRM-free ePub eBooks — like those from Project Gutenberg — should work on the iPad and pretty much everything else.

To use Project Gutenberg, just click on the link above and browse or search away. If you’re not sure where to start, try their Top 100 list. When you find something you like, scroll down to the EPUB link and download the file.

Now, we’re assuming (as in hoping) Apple will also give us an easy-as-iTunes way to drag, drop, manage and sync free ePub books over to the iPad but we just don’t know for sure. There are a variety of other ways to do it, including the same super-combo of Calibre and Stanza that works so well for the iPhone and iPod touch today, but we’ll have to wait for April 3 to know for sure. (And we’ll update once we do, of course).

If you know of any other great sources for free ePub content — or any terrific free eBooks you want to recommend — tell us about them in the comments.

Microsoft has released a new version of Bing [Free - iTunes link] for the iPhone and iPod touch. Florian Voss chronicled on their blog, includes:

Bookmarks and improved web browsing: you can now bookmark maps, directions, web sites, businesses, search terms, even the weather report, and get to the bookmarks right from the Bing home page.

Sharing: you can share interesting results with your friends using e-mail.

Copy and paste URLs: you told us and we listened! We now support copying and pasting URLs.

Parental control on search settings: we helped make search safer by letting you set a SafeSearch level and create a passcode so it can’t be changed. This is a benefit for parents who want to make sure the kids are only going to safe sites on their devices.

Search history and private search: you can now view and edit your search history. You can also search the web without saving your history on the device using private search.

Explicit location setting: let your iPhone find you or set a specific location so you can search near there (super useful when you’re going to travel to another city and want to find things around there).

Tighter integration of contacts in directions: Bing now autosuggests contacts from your address book when you enter start and end locations in directions.

Support for 1st generation iPod touch devices: we now support all versions of iPod touch.

While Google and Apple continue to squabble, and speculation remains that Bing might become the next default search engine for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, it’s nice to see Microsoft continue to invest in — and improve –the App Store app.

Note: Sadly, it appears to be US only still. For the biggest software company in the world, ignoring most of the world is… disappointing. Let’s share the Bing, shall we?

Video from Macworld 2010 of TiPb talking with Florian Voss about Bing for iPhone re-embedded after the break!

[Thanks to our good buddy Phil for the tip!]

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Once again 9to5Mac reports on Steve Jobs answering Apple users’ questions, this time regarding iPad support for Google’s Picasa. The question:

…Are there any plans to support Picasa’s faces and albums in iTunes, so I can take full advantage of the [iPad] Photos application, since Photoshop Album is long discontinued. If not, please can you look into supporting the Picasa library format?

And the response from Steve Jobs:

No, but iPhoto on the Mac has much better Faces and Places features.

Sent from my iPhone

One of my favorite apps from my days using Palm OS was BugMe! Back in the day, it offered functionality that the Palm OS did not have in its Memo/Notes applications. You can pick up BugMe in the app store for a deal [$0.99 - iTunes Link]. Let’s take a look at what BugMe! For iPhone has to offer.

BugMe! is setup to have a cork board-like interface where you can stick your notes and rearrange them in any order you like.  From the launch screen you can view and rearrange your notes as you want by tapping and holding. You can tap the “New Note” button to create a new note. Once created, you have several options available to you:

• Ink or eraser
• Change ink thickness
• Change note color and add an image to the note
• Share note (email, Twitter, Home Screen, Photo Album)
• Alarm

Another nice feature is the ability to set custom alarms with push notifications. This can come in really handy if you jot down a quick note and need to be reminded later.

I  like this 1.x release of BugMe!. It is simple and fun, but lacks some features such as resizable notes (ya just can’t fit in a lot of the release given, even with a smaller ink size) and options to not size-to-fit images you place on a note. Other than that, if you are looking for a simple ink note app for your iPhone, BugMe! fits the bill! Lots of pictures after the break! Read the rest of this entry »

Sprint now joins Verizon in taking jabs at AT&T’s network and the iPhone, offering an “iPhone 4G” in their latest TV spot via their Overdrive WiMax hotspot (think 4G MiFi).

Sprint claims the best solution to AT&T’s supposedly slow 3G speed is not the next generation of iPhone (which won’t be called the iPhone 4G due to LTE networks not being deployed for a year or two yet), but rather your current iPhone connected via WiFi to their beefed up 4G WiMax network.

So, with Verizon targeting the iPad via MiFi and now Sprint going after the iPhone via WiMax (when they could be focusing on their own devices like the Droid and the Palm Pre) are they hoping to prop up the modem business by surrendering device mindshare to Apple?

Thing is, last we checked AT&T has the fastest 3G data speeds available on any US carrier and that’s good enough for us. But for those unfortunate souls out there with less than desirable AT&T service is this something that you would ever be interested in? And if you’re already tethering your iPhone to a Sprint Overdrive, what kind of speeds are you getting?

Watch the ad after the break!

[Via BGR]

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In a team-up that never made it to the big screen but just might make a big difference in many lives, Apple CEO Steve Jobs and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger are pushing forward legislation aimed at improving organ donation in the state:

“Steve Jobs’ was very instrumental in getting us here today,” said the governor. “Steve Jobs told my wife about his transplant and she talked to me. Then we had great phone conversations back and forth. … He knew that others don’t have a plane waiting for them to get to a transplant.”

Jobs said, “There were not enough livers in California to go around. I was advised by my Stanford doctors to enroll on a list at a Memphis hospital, because it was more favorable to get a liver there.

“I was fortunate,” he said because he had the ability to fly cross country in the four-hour window needed to transplant a healthy organ. “Last year, 400 other Californians died waiting. I could have died.”

He called current system “an obscure process” with “no one asking the simple question: Will you donate your organs?”

Of his current health, the whippet-thin Jobs told other transplant survivors who attended the Friday news conference, “I’m feeling fine. I almost died. It’s been a pretty good last few months.”

Non-iPhone friendly video after the break!

[Mercury News via 9to5Mac]

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While it’s easy to think the iPhone 3GS is everywhere now, TiPb still gets email asking when it will be in India, and on the largest carrier in the largest market in the world, China Mobile.

Well Macworld tells us Airtel has finally announced they’ll be bringing the iPhone 3GS to India:

New Delhi, March 19, 2010 : Bharti Airtel and Apple have reached an agreement to bring iPhone 3GS, the fastest most powerful iPhone yet, to India in the coming months. For information please visit www.airtel.in/iphone3gs. For more information on iPhone, please visit www.apple.com/iphone .

Meanwhile, Financial Times [registration required] reports that China Mobile CEO Wang Jianzhou is still interested as well, providing Apple addresses their special radio needs:

“including TD-SCDMA is not that hard to do – RIM is doing it”. But he added that Apple had not yet responded to his proposal.

MacRumors points out that while China Mobile is a monster, their 3G customer base remains small, but should grow from 3.4 to 10 million this year.

Either way, these represent two holes in Apple’s iPhone coverage and it’s nice to see at least one of them getting filled.