Opera Mini approved for App Store

And the peasants rejoice!!!

In a surprise move today, Apple has actually approved the fastest (arguably) mobile web browser – Opera Mini for the iPhone platform. It will be available in the App Store for free in under 24 hours from now. This is what the CEO of Opera said in an official press release today.

Image via TechCrunch

We are delighted to offer iPhone and iPod touch users a great browsing experience with the Opera Mini App," said Lars Boilesen, CEO, OperaSoftware. “This app is another step toward Opera’s goal of bringing the Web to more people in more places.

For those who don’t know what Opera Mini is, it’s a free browser by Opera itself for cell phones. Opera Mini has been the browser of choice by millions of users due to it’s highspeed browsing and it’s amazing page rendering techniques. Opera showed off the Opera Mini on iPhone at the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona this year, and it was as appealing as Opera running on any other mobile platform like Android, simply superb!

via Redmond Pie

Trent Reznor Of NIN Tears Apple Apps Process A New One

I absolutely love NIN frontman Trent Reznor, as only a straight guy can love another man. Not only because he makes really good music, but because this guy knows his tech like no other musician (sorry John Mayer). Case in point is when Trent comes off the top rope on Apple and their ridiculous App approval process. Apple recently rejected a NIN application because of “risqué content” , and that sent Reznor over the edge with this NSFW posting on his podcast:

“You can buy The Downward Fucking Spiral on iTunes, but you can't allow an iPhone app that may have a song with a bad word somewhere in it. Geez, what if someone in the forum in our app says FUCK or CUNT? I suppose that also falls into indecent material. Hey Apple, I just got some SPAM about fucking hot asian teens THROUGH YOUR MAIL PROGRAM. I just saw two guys having explicit anal sex right there in Safari! On my iPhone!”

As crude as he is…… He has a point. Check out the rest of the statement below:

“Everyone - let me be clear. I love Apple products and as goofy and out-of-touch as their app approval process / policy is, I will still use them because they work 1000X better than the competition. This is not a debate, it's a fact. The iPhone is THE most elegant, modern smartphone at this point in time and it's perfect for what we want to do with the NIN app - except for the ludicrous approval process, and that's what I want to draw attention to. Android is cool, but nobody has an Android phone. Blackberry is OK but the hardware is inconsistent and WinMo straight-up sucks balls. If Apple doesn't get it together, we will most certainly make it available to the jailbreak community. I didn't invest in this app to see it languish on the sidelines from an idiotic policy while this tour is in full swing. “

I do find it interesting that Apple doesn’t have a problem with NSFW applications such as Twitter and other questionable apps, not to mention the fact that you can buy explicit lyrics songs on iTunes. Why not just have Adult sections of the app store that you must be over 18 to download instead of rejecting these types of apps? By rejecting them, Apple opens itself up to criticism of hypocrisy, and rightfully so.

Do yourself a favor Apple…. Stop trying to be our Moms!!!

[Gizmodo]

UPDATE: Straight from the twitter account of the man himself, the NIN iPhone app has been approved and will be available sometime later today "unchanged" from the version that Apple found objectionable.
So, it appears that Apple has caved in to the criticism, further illustrating that their approval system is all kinds of messed up. All that aside, I'm just happy it's on it's way. [Twitter]

$ims 3 for the iPhone $creens

EA Mobile have released some new screens from the upcoming SIMS3 for iPhone. The game was shown in detail at the iPhone SDK/OS3.0 event. It looked pretty good, and included micro transaction features of the the new SDK.

If you didn’t see this coming, let’s do the math. iPhone / iPod Touch sales : 37 million and counting.  Sims franchise units sold : 100 million.  App store apps sold/downloaded : 1 billion.  If that is not a money printing press, I don’t know what is.

[via iPhone Games Network]

iPhone developers are not happy right now

While Apple keeps bragging about one billion iPhone apps sold, some developers are fed up with their outrageous payment delays. Some cases are dramatic, deeply affecting indie developer's families in the middle of the crisis:

30 something year old family man with bills to pay owed 1,000's (soon to be 10's of thousands if March is missed also) here.

I'm with you. I am a 30 year old work-from-home Dad of 2 kids. I'm owed probably about $10k at this point ($2k from past months, $8k from the month with no payments or financial reports yet).

This is a BIG deal for me and my family.

Over $10,000 here. Family, kids, mortgage etc. Mails unanswered etc. In dispair. No where to go. They don't reply to emails and there is no number. Can't do anything physically because I'm in the European Union.

Apple still owes me more than $7,500 since September 2008 for US and World regions. I supplied them with a new SWIFT code and a intermediary bank they could use last month, but still nothing. Sent them tons of emails but I never got to know what is really wrong/faulty so I just tried to give them another SWIFT code that DNB (Biggest bank in Norway) uses. All other region payments have been OK.

Apple owes me near $2000 since Feb. Zero payment received. Zero email replies.

Apple acts as a distribution channel for all iPhone OS-based software through their iTunes App Store. They get the micro-payments from the customers, getting a 30% share of each sale. Every month they add the totals and pay developers the 70% in a single money transfer, which—according to the developer contract—should arrive within 45 days of the end of the month.

As you can see, this has not been the case in the quotes above and apparently many others. Months have passed in many instances, and there's still no sign of the money. In fact, according to developers, the situation is so bad that some are threatening to sue Apple for breach of contract.

If you are a developer and have some horror—or good—stories to share about this, you know where we are. [iphonedevsdk forums and iphonedevsdk forums via TechCrunch via Gizmodo]

What's on your iPhone???

OK, I know all of you haven't gotten an iPhone yet, but I'm curious what apps those of you that have one are using.  All I know is that the apps I use most often are MLB at bat (easisest way to keep track of my spiraling downard White Sox), Shazam (I never can recognize songs and groups), and this addictive little BJ Run Lite game.  But I've been finding some great ones that I use also.  The Myspace, Facebook, Ebay and Wikipedia apps are definitely cool little add ons, and I found a great movies app along with Gas Bag, which is an app that shows gas prices that are in your area all updated by real users in real time.  Works great so far, I can't wait for more people to start using it.  My only thing is that I wish either the NFL, or some sports organization does the same thing for football that MLB.com at Bat does.  Actually, I have a couple more screens of apps, but they are mostly stuff that I've downloaded to try.

Video Of Stupid “I Am Rich” Application

Some idiot genius came up with the most expensive app for the iphone called “I Am Rich”, to take advantage of the stupid. This $1000.00 app does nothing other than having a glowing gem like light that tells you that you’re rich. Now I try not to make fun of rich people mainly because you never know if you’ll end up working for them, and I certainly would like to be one.

But if you bought this app…….. You’re a moron!!!

There’s just no other way to describe it. Take a look at the complexity of this app in the video above.

[Crunchgear]