The iPhone App Censorship Madness Continues

Eucalyptus is an iPhone application that that lets you download and read books from the expansive Project Gutenberg library of free public-domain works. Judging from its Web site, it’s more or less comparable to Amazon’s Kindle application–except all the content is free, and the interface looks to be prettier. The asking price is $9.99–steep for an iPhone program, but I’m tempted.

Except Apple won’t let us buy Eucalyptus: According to developer James Montgomerie, it rejected the program for including material that is “obscene, pornographic, offensive, or defamatory.”

The material in question is the Kama Sutra, which has been offending (and intriguing) people for centuries. It’s not included with Eucalyptus–no book is–but it’s available at Project Gutenberg, and you can therefore use Eucalyptus to read it.

The thing is, you can also use multiple approved iPhone e-readers to peruse it, including the Kindle app, Stanza, and Bookshelf. If Apple has previously banned any e-reader because someone might use it to download and read a dirty book, it’s news to me. Apple clearly isn’t forcing Amazon to censor books that are available on the Kindle app–a search for “sex” in Amazon’s Kindle bookstore is, well, downright revolting (NSFW, or anyplace else tasteful) in spots.

If the mere fact that an app could be used to download something dirty was enough to ban it from the iPhone, of course, Apple’s own Safari would never have made it onto the phone: The Web is bursting at the seams with items that are obscene, pornographic, offensive, and/or defamatory. And I still haven’t seen a good explanation as to why Apple is willing to sell music whose very titles are nasty, as well as some pretty earthy movies–but wants stuff on the iPhone to be inoffensive.

My guess is that Apple’s policies don’t really ban Eucalyptus. It seems far more likely that the app fell victim to an overzealous and underinformed member of Apple’s staff who simply twisted the intent of the App Store’s rules and applied them in a way that nobody ever meant to enforce them. At this point, the biggest problem with Apple’s iPhone App store policies isn’t that they’re unreasonable: It’s that they seem to be applied in an utterly random fashion. It’s crummy for developers of worthwhile software–and, more important, crummy for iPhone owners. Longterm, it’s also crummy for Apple, since it’s one of the few major black marks against an otherwise extraordinary platform.

What’s next? Eucalyptus developer James Montgomerie says he’s decided to “rent out” his soul by creating a version of the program that manually blocks the Kama Sutra. It’s unclear whether Apple will give the go-ahead to this variant. And it looks possible, at least, that the parental controls planned for the iPhone 3.0 software will render the issue moot by allowing iPhone owners to determine whether or not questionable stuff can be downloaded onto the phone.

Neither of those solutions is entirely satisfying, though: It’s ludicrous for Montgomerie to have to censor one of the most widely-published books ever printed when it’s available in other iPhone e-readers, and it would be silly if Eucalyptus was hobbled with being labeled an adults-only app when and if it makes its way to the App Store. I’m writing this post in part because I hope that this whole fiasco gets enough attention to prompt Apple to fast-track Eucalyptus through the acceptance process. And I’m optimistic enough to think that’s a likely scenario.

Sony May Cut More PSP Middlemen

At this point, everyone but Sony is talking about a redesigned PSP that ditches physical media in favor of digital downloads. Whether you believe that or not, several reports suggest the PSP will eventually focus more on Web transactions with a download-to-rent service.

The evidence came from Joystiq, which reported on a survey gauging interest in a rental service. The questionnaire says this kind of offering “could be developed” and sought feedback on price points, subscription packages, desire for new releases and the number of titles added per month. From the nature of these questions, it seems like Sony is considering paid subscriptions rather than a la carte rentals.

Today, Develop magazine writes that game developers were briefed on the nature of this service at the Game Developers Conference last March. Several studios were reportedly given information and documents on the service.

Download-to-rent video games are an interesting proposition because they alleviate some of the uncertainty downloaders face, knowing they can’t sell the game back to GameStop once they complete the game. The trade-off, obviously, is no ownership of the real gems. If Sony does implement subscription rentals for the PSP, I hope the company figures out a way to bridge this gap.

I’m thinking some sort of incentive plan for purchasing games would work nicely. Gamefly, for example, lets renters keep the games they really like at used game prices, and adds discounts that get better the longer you’re a member. This is what keeps me subscribing through boring spots on the release calendar.

Sony would be wise to implement something similar. Even better, the company could make like Napster or ZunePass and let subscribers permanently hang on to a game every few months. That would keep customers happily forking their money over to Sony, not the middleman.

Air Force: No, GPS Will Not Fail

The Air Force has begun work to allay fears of GPS system failure following a GAO report last week that the system stands a risk of deteriorating starting in 2010. In a scheduled online forum over Twitter on the topic, the armed services branch said in no uncertain terms that GPS is not going anywhere.

“No, the GPS will not go down. GAO points out, there is potential risk associated with a degradation in GPS performance,”Col. Dave Buckman, AFSPC command lead for Position, Navigation and Timing said over Twitter.

Buckman continued by saying that he agreed with the agency that there was risk of performance issues, however the Air Force Space Command was indeed working to prevent any disruptions.

GAO officials have charged that budget overruns and a lack of oversight has put the system at risk. It’s apparent that the report stung hard enough that officials overseeing our system felt the need to respond to it.

“We definitely need to keep this in perspective . Since 1995, GPS has never failed to exceed performance standards,” Buckman argued.

I agree with the Air Force’s assessment. While cost overruns and oversight issues are handicapping the upgrades to a aging system, the GAO’s report came across as a little too much Chicken Little.

At the same time, its a lesson in government accountability that hopefully our new president is going to correct.

Apple Tablet in 2010? Maybe! And Maybe Not!

When analysts predict Apple’s plans, I’m instantly, incorrigibly skeptical. With that in mind, I’m regarding Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster’s theory that Apple will release a tablet device next year for $500-$700 as just that: a theory. Munster pieced together his prediction based on multiple pieces of interesting evidence, ranging from rumors coming out of Asian component supplies to Apple’s acquisition of chip company PA Semi to the company’s portfolio of multi-touch patents. I don’t think anyone on the planet has a decent record of assembling reliable predictions based on these types of hints.

On the grand scale, I think some of the clues that Munster is looking at mean something: If the next few years pass without Apple releasing devices that bridge the gap between an iPhone and a MacBook, I’d be shocked. I also assume that the iPhone OS, or its descendants, will power larger, more powerful devices than the iPhone or iPod Touch–and that it’s the form of OS X that’ll be around even after Apple no longer makes any devices that look much like today’s Macs. (Note: I don’t mean to suggest that Macs are going away any time soon.)

One other thing about Munster and his Apple predictions: He recently said that he thinks that there will be no new iPhones at Apple’s WWDC keynote on June 6th, but that Steve Jobs will return from his medical leave to headline a new-iPhone press event in late June.   As Daring Fireball’s John Gruber points out, a new iPhone will likely have new hardware features that Apple will have to explain to third-party developers, so you’d think the company would want to unveil said new phone at WWDC.

Oprah Plugs Skype

I’m not exactly sure what Oprah’s affinity as of late for putting her media weight behind several techologies, but she’s doing it again with Skype, the popular VoIP service.

Oprah’s show does use Skype on certain occassions to interview guests and the company is a sponsor, but producers stress that had nothing to do with Oprah selecting the technology to cover in a show.

Instead, “the idea originated from our producers who wanted to see what extreme places they could Skype into and also how they could use this far-reaching technology to surprise viewers,” a Harpo spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal.

Some of the spots Oprah will be interviewing guests from are a Canadian town near the North Pole, a submarine, and a Wi-Fi equipped Virgin America plane. It should be mentioned that Virgin actually forbids Skype video chats typically in flights, but I guess Mr. Branson is making an exception for the Queen of All Media.

I don’t think Skype will get the boost that Kindle did from its Oprah debut as the technology is much more established. However it certainly won’t hurt either.

5Words for May 21st, 2009

Apple tablet rumors: gettin’ boring!

Analyst thinks Apple tablet coming.

Google, beta: no longer synonymous?

Jetpack: Mozilla’s new add-on framework.

Are your deleted photos deleted?

Is Kumo search already behind?

Twitter: more popular. MySpace, not.

Conficker hasn’t gone away yet.

Got 400 movies on Blu-Ray?

Cablevision to launch remote DVR.

Google Suggest: Weren’t We Doing This Already?

It’s always somewhat amusing when companies roll out old features as new ones. Essentially, that’s what Google Suggest is. The company has rejiggered a feature that has long been available through the Google search field and prettied it up a bit.

Essentially the changes build on prexisting functionality. Google has made the feature personalized, which would cull your web history (if you have a Google account and are signed in, Google does track your searches) and add previous search terms into the suggestion list.

Another feature is navigational suggestions. When you type a search term in that may be closely related to an actual site, the site is populated in the returns, which allows you to go directly to that site without searching through the results for it.

This goes even further with Google actually even looking through AdSense ads for returns. It says the ads in Google Suggest would appear similar to the way they do on the results pages, with a “Sponsored Link” mark and colored background.

Google says that functionality is being tested and is not open to all advertisers. If it works well, it could be expanded but the company isn’t expanding too much on its plans there.

Let Folks Glympse Your Location

How many times in your life have you called someone to tell him or her where you were–or to admit that you had no idea where you were? If your sense of direction is as lousy as mine, the answer is “lots.” Glympse, a free new application for GPS-enabled smartphones launched this week at the Where 2.0 conference in San Jose, aims to provide a simpler way to clue people into your location than craning your neck for street signs or local landmarks while you’re on the phone.

Conceptually, Glympse couldn’t be much simpler: The app locates you on a map, then lets you send a message via SMS or e-mail to anyone in your address book, with a brief customizable note from you and a link to an online map showing where the heck you are. You can optionally also mark your destination on the map.

Continue reading this story…

Porn Prank Pesters YouTube

Pranksters from the Web sites 4chan  and eBaum’s world converged on Google’s YouTube video service today for a stunt organizers called “Porn Day,” Ars Technica is reporting.

Porn day participants “carpet bombed” YouTube with pornographic videos throughout the day as YouTube struggled to remove the offending content. Explicit images remained in video thumbnails even after the videos were removed, and it will take several days for the images to be purged from YouTube’s search results, Cnet is reporting.

Google usually relies upon community ratings to flag offensive content, but it took the unusual step of disabling certain channels that were targeted by the pranksters, according to the report.

The pranksters proved that YouTube was vulnerable to abuse, but YouTuthe site’s mechanisms for removing undesirable content the worked effectively enough. It is also unlikely that “Porn Day” organizers could sustain the effort day in and day out.

While it certainly touches on how the anonymity of the Internet can be abused, the prank was just that – a prank. Whether it was funny or not remains in the eye of the beholder.

Calif. Game Sales Law Goes to the Supreme Court

Not content with a state appeals court decision and a trail of failed legislation in other states, California state Sen. Leland Yee is getting his wish: His fight for government regulation of violent video game sales to minors will go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The irony is beautiful when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he’s heard the “loud and clear” message to reduce deficits through budget cuts and on the same day endorses a legal pursuit that will waste taxpayer money. But here we are once more, chasing the spectre of evil, killer video games, trying to hide them with censorship so they don’t corrupt California’s precious children.

To recap, the law would ban the sale of violent video games to anyone under the age of 18. Any game that contains “especially heinous, cruel, or depraved” violence would include a 2-inch by 2-inch sticker with the number “18″ on it. If a store owner is caught selling these games to minors, the retailer is fined $1,000.  Upon hearing a complaint from the games industry, a judge blocked the law, and an appeals judge agreed with the decision. Yee still isn’t giving up.

Because the state would essentially be throwing the Entertainment Software Ratings Board out the window — it’s a voluntary system by the video game industry, after all — a new, government-run system would need to be put into place. I doubt the costs of running such a system would be covered entirely by fines, especially if store owners start taking drastic measures to keep violent games out of the wrong hands, such as putting certain games behind closed doors or not selling them entirely.

So now we get to the point I’ve argued previously: Game fans of a mature age may find their favorite games behind the glass, so to speak, regardless of the games’ artistic or cultural merits. Why don’t movies and music receive the same scrutiny, even though minors are having more success buying them? Because, Yee and the state of California argue, they’re not interactive. This issue of how games affect players will likely be the focus of the debate if the Supreme moves the case forward.

There’s a sentiment among readers of GamePolitics, where I first read this story, that the Supreme Court needs to hear this case. Presumably, our top justices have nothing to gain politically from these laws, and will therefore put them to bed for good because they’re unconstitutional.

I agree with that notion. We may never be able to save the children — there are far too many other factors playing into that — but at least no more tax dollars will go to waste.

Kindle for iPhone Gets Good (Not Perfect, But Good)

Amazon.com, whose first pass at putting Kindle e-books on the iPhone was simultaneously amazing and disappointing, has released a new version of its iPhone app.  It’s still not the ultimate iPhone e-reader, but it sh0ws welcome influence from the excellent Stanza (recently bought by Amazon).

Four new features make it worth checking out, and one of them is important enough to turn iPhone Kindle from an app I almost never user to one I’ll use frequently when I have time to kill.

Continue reading this story…

5Words for May 20th, 2009

Busy day for phone news…

Best Buy’s instant Pre rebate.

Unsubsidized, the Pre is $549.

Various small Google Reader tweaks.

iPhone sales double over 2008.

BlackBerries are selling well, too.

Acer to make Android phone.

Virgin America offers Wi-Fi everywhere.

Dell shows an Android netbook.

Hulu preps for UK launch.

Will Google partner with Twitter?

Pandora’s paid app is cool.

Do you drive while texting?

LTE vs. WiMAX: The 4G Wireless War

Remember when 3G was the future of wireless data? It’s not even universally available in the U.S. yet, and the race is already well underway to replace it. WiMAX, the 4G network technology that counts Sprint and Intel among its boosters, has a head start. But it’s losing ground to Long Term Evolution (LTE).

LTE’s promise of high-speed, two-way wireless data promises an “all-IP” mode of communications in which voice calls are handled via VoIP. It’s also designed to handle video well, and to permit roaming through multiple systems–from cellular to Wi-Fi and satellite.

LTE is considered by many to be the obvious successor to current-generation 3G technologies, based on WCDMA, HSDPA, HSUPA and HSPA, in part because it updates UMTS technology to provide significantly faster data rates for both uploading and downloading, while preserving backwards compatibility with existing handsets based on older standards. Verizon Wireless, has already said that it will support LTE as its 4G technology of choice, abandoning its current CDMA based network.

Continue reading this story…

New Microsoft Search Next Week?

Rumor has it that Microsoft’s revamped search engine may debut at Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher’s D conference next week. There’s been plenty of scuttlebutt about the new version for months, but very little of it has had anything to do with its capabilities–it’s mostly involved speculation as to whether it’s going to be called Kumo, Bing or Hook, or something else. In a new post, search guru Danny Sullivan seems to lean towards thinking it’ll be Bing, but also proposes two good options that are so obvious they’re unexpected: MSN or Microsoft.

One thing people aren’t doing is calling Kumo-or-Whatever a Google killer. That’s not a knock against it so much as a healthy acknowledgment that even if it’s extraordinary, it’s not going to bump off the world’s dominant search engine any time soon. But with the current Live Search stuck at under three percent market share and Google at 81 percent, Microsoft would presumably be thrilled if its new engine was good enough to get the company’s search of share creeping upwards again.

So, Is Napster Worth Anything? Sure!

Yesterday, Harry wrote about Napster’s new price plan of $5 a month for unlimited online streaming and five MP3 downloads. I was intrigued, so I signed up.

The service isn’t new, but the updated price calls for a fresh evaluation. Consider this a mini review after an afternoon of tinkering.

Rock On:

• Software or Cloud: The Web version of Napster is almost as fully-featured as the software, with a sleek pop-out window that acts as the player. The software lets you integrate your existing MP3 library and adds some much-needed right-click functionality.
• The Interface: Napster’s interface looks a lot like iTunes, and that’s a good thing. On the left are your navigation headings along with any playlists you create, while the library and artist information resides in the middle. There are also radio stations and an “Automix” feature that throws together familiar and new music based on your tastes.
• MP3 Downloads: Every month, you can download five songs. Along with the unlimited streaming, you’re getting far more value than you would from five iTunes tracks.

Boo:

• 30 Second Tracks: Leave it to some record labels to dip only a toe into the 21st century. Some labels aren’t cool with offering full tracks, which isn’t cool with me.
• $5 Per Month? While Napster cheerily announced the price point in its press release, it conveniently didn’t say that this a limited time offer. The real price is $7 per month, to be reinstated at an unknown date. By spilling the beans yesterday, before the new site and disclaimer were available, we had no reason to assume the price would someday go up when covering the news. That’s underhanded.
• No Online Access to Downloaded Music: I imagine this would be technically daunting, but I wish the browser version of Napster would let you play local MP3s. It should at least sync up with your library and add streaming versions of songs you already own.
• Minor Gripes: No party shuffle, no importing playlists from iTunes, limited format support (.WMA and .MP3 only) and local MP3s won’t link up to the artist’s online section.

The Verdict: Even if my list of greivances outweighs the positives in number, I’m pretty happy with my investment. Sure, Napster has its share of nuisances tht prevent me from dropping WinAmp and iTunes altogether, and I’m worried that some day the subscription price will creep upwards. But as a tool for listening to and discovering lots of music? You could do a lot worse for five bucks a month.

Alleged iPhone 3.0 Specs and Ship Date Leak

An Apple enthusiast blog may have gotten its hands on the holy grail of gadget news: the specs and final ship date for the next iPhone. Apple iPhone Apps reports that the next generation smart phone will ship on July 17 with an assortment of new hardware features.

Before I comment about the veracity of the report, and all of the cool alleged features, it has to be said that this news breaking today is unfortunate for Palm, which announced that the Pre would be shipping on Jun. 6 for US$199.99 (after rebate) earlier today.

If this unconfirmed report is true, the iPhone 3.0′s feature set easily eclipses the Pre.  Here’s the breakdown:

* 32GB and 16GB to replace current capacities
* $199 and $299 pricebpoints to be maintained
* 3.2 megapixel camera
* Video recording and editing capabilities
* Ability to send a picture and video via MMS
* Discontinuation of the metal band surrounding the edge of the device
* OLED screen
* 150% more battery life
* Double the RAM and processing power
* Built-in FM transmitter
* Apple logo on the back to light up
* Rubber-tread backing
* Sleeker design
* Built-in compass
* Use of the camera, GPS, compass, and Google maps to identify photo and inform about photo locations.
* Turn by turn directions

That is a compelling list of features, and logical enough that I have to suspend my skepticism. Everything makes sense for a next generation iPhone–except for the costly OLED screen. However, economies of scale may solve that problem.

It is also high time that OLEDs are being used in more devices. They eliminate the back it glare of LCDs screens, and use far less energy. If Apple is serious about making gaming one of the iPhone’s selling points, this is the way to go.

Indeed, many features solve problems or offer a natural progression from today’s iPhone, and this is a feasible feature set. My biggest gripes are the current phone’s battery life, camera, and storage capacity.

Removing the metal band could improve reception, and firming up its grip is also a good idea that I’m certain many customers have asked for. The iPhone is slippery without a case, and dropping mine would mean a costly $500 mistake.

Couple these specs with the new firmware and rumored cheaper data plans, and we  would have a winner. I can’t imagine that Apple won’t continue to outshine the competition–unless one of them pulls a rabbit out of its hat.