The Smithsonian Channel in an agreement with Apple will be soon bringing content to iTunes. Probably for the usual $1.99.

Apple brings us some new ads. I sure like them a lot more than the Microsoft Mojave experiment. I really enjoyed the one called Calming Teas.

Apple has offered MobileMe subscribers another free extension. Delivered via an email, Apple has told MobileMe customers they would receive a 60-day extension in addition to the 30 days offered in July.

“We are working very hard to make MobileMe a great service we can all be proud of,” the message reads. “We know that MobileMe’s launch has not been our finest hour, and we truly appreciate your patience as we turn this around.”

Apple sounds like they are working hard to resolve issues and are doing right by their loyal customers. I personally have been a subscriber since the free iTools days.

Thanks Glenn for sending this to me to post so did not miss it.

iPhone 2.0.2 arrives. Connect your iPhone and sync to get your “Bug Fixes.”

UPDATE: iPod touch 2.0.2 is also available.

Pandora has been my favorite web radio service for some time that I have written about many times. One of the very first iPhone apps I downloaded was the free Pandora app from the iTunes App Store.

Why should free web-based radio have to pay almost twice as much as in royalties as satellite radio that charges a monthly subscription or traditional radio that pays no such fee at all? Well because the power of the RIAA and SoundExchange say so.

“We’re approaching a pull-the-plug kind of decision,” said Tim Westergren, who founded Pandora. “This is like a last stand for webcasting.”

The Washington Post has a good article on how webcasting may soon be in the dead pool. I makes me wonder how the RIAA thinks this will help business, slow P2P file sharing, or help artists?

Netflix is still in the middle of severe technical issues that has seemed to basically make the company go dark. The price tag for this glitch will be in the millions.

Apple has surpassed Google in market value closing at $158.84 billion now well over three times the value of Dell at $50.79 billion. Google closed at $157.23 billion today. Apple’s strategy of building god businesses around great gadgets seems to be working.

Apple, now one of the most valuable tech companies, also surpasses Cisco’s market value of $143.38 billion and HP at $112.48 billion. Apple trails IBM at $170.44 billion and Microsoft at $254.83 billion. Many analysis have predicted that Apple will soon pass IBM in market value.

No “pithy” comments from Michael Dell about Apple these days while he watches his company struggle.

Well the Joy of Tech seems to have an answer. The iPhone sure seems like it likes to make a day out of syncing these days! Think iTunes may just need a rewrite?

Best Buy will start selling the iPhone on Sept. 7, becoming first U.S. chain to do so outside of Apple and AT&T’s own stores. [via Yahoo! News]

Windows BSOD are now part of Olympic history. I wonder if they were running Vista? [via Gizmodo]

UPDATE: Microsoft’s newer operating system, Vista, was not chosen. Seems Microsoft is designated as an official supplier to the 2008 Olympic Games.

Lenovo chairman, Yang Yuanqing, was quoted as saying that because of the complexity of the IT functions at the Games, it was decided to not use the the more recent operating system. “If it’s not stable, it could have some problems,” he said. Vista, not stable? Really!

Bill Gates and his wife were in attendance at the opening ceremony, so it is a good guess that he saw the BSOD displayed in all its glory!

Steve Jobs in an interview at Apple headquarters said that 60 million apps for the iPhone and iPod touch have already been downloaded to the “tune” of an average of $1 million a day for a total of about $30 million in sales over the month.

There are over 1,600 apps now available in the iTunes App Store for the iPhone. Many are free. In my opinion probably less than 100 of them are worth it. I truly question the quality control or should I say lack of any quality. It sure seems it is quantity that Apple is after.

Continue reading The iPhone App Store Money Grab…

Google has launched an optimized iPhone version of Google Translate. Just point your iPhone or iPod touch to translate.google.com.

AppleInsider has posted a sneak preview of IBM’s new Lotus iNotes for the Apple iPhone with screenshots.

Planned for delivery later this year, iNotes is a web app client for Lotus Domino messaging server that will bring email, calendar, and contacts to the iPhone.

Tired of those ridiculous iPhone backups in iTunes? Maybe like me you are tired of waiting for an Apple fix for this headache. Sure you can wait the hour or more to allow iTunes to backup your saved game or text message on your iPhone, or move on with your life.

As much as I am a big fan of backing up, iTunes and the iPhone have killed my desire as the backups take forever and I have already found them to end up being useless when I have had to restore my iPhone. You can use a Terminal hack to do this or this free (donations are accepted) app for Mac users called Backup Disabler. I have not tried this yet.

Enjoy!