The new iPhone firmware is not out for the public yet, but is in the hands of developers who have found some interesting features aside from the framework of the firmware itself.

The new found features include:

 - Support for Japanese emoji icons:  Popular in Japan and blamed for slow sales of the iPhone in Japan due to them not being there.

 - Google Street View:  The street view we all enjoy on our PC’s and Macs, now on the iPhone

 - Auto-Correction Diable:  A good and bad feature of the iPhone.  When it works in your favor it’s great, but when trying to type an unusual last name or word it                                             becomes a pain.  Now you will be able to turn it off.

It’s always great to know Apple is serious about keeping its customers happy even when the company grows to include more and more people.  All Apple users love that personal touch that Apple provides and it good to see they are back into the details.

[via Mac Rumors]

  Apple today shut down the ability for developers to provision licenses to customers willing to pay outside the app store.  The Podcaster app (reviewed here) is a great app that should have been on the app store, but Apple disallowed it because it duplicated the function of downloading podcasts on iTunes. This statement from Apple is not true, as Podcaster let you download and search podcasts without connecting the iPhone or iPod touch to your computer.  

To get around not being allowed in the App store, the developer would take your serial number from the iPhone and give you a developers license which allowed you to install the app.  Apple shut this down by not allowing the developer to provision Ad-Hoc licenses to anyone else.  The post by the developer has been talen down as it violated NDA or so we believe.  

Too bad Apple does not embrace the people and allow this application in its store.  There are plenty who would pay for it.  Now lets hope those who have paid (roughly 1300) get to keep the app.

[via phonenews]

  Among the many rumors surrounding the Apple event on Tuesday is a new version of iTunes and now 2.1 firmware for iPod Touch and iPhone.  

We knew the firmware was coming, but the timing was in question.  According to Ars Technica, the firmware sounds like it is going to be released on Tuesday along with new iPods, and who knows what other features at this point.  The software was supposedly seeded to developers as usual, but with some key features lacking.  

We already know about the possibly new visualizations, but what else remains is a mystery.  Tuesday seems so far off…..

  Not unlink the macheist bundle, Mac Update is offering 12 applications for $49.99 instead of the Normal $600.00.  

When you purchase bundles now, you’ll be the immediate owner of TidyUp! MacJournal, Bookends, Norrkross Movie, Mellel, DEVONagent, Periscope, Alarm Clock Pro, and HookUp. Contactizer Pro and LightZone are to be unlocked upon reaching the sales goals above. Every time a sales goal is achieved another application is unlocked and added into the bundle for free. People that purchase the bundle before each unlock milestone will have the unlocked products automatically added to their accounts for free.

In 2007-08, MacUpdate and partnering developers sold over 42,000 bundles, hitting record volume. It was a superb time for everyone who participated in the fun events. The MacUpdate Back-to-School bundle is the biggest online Mac software event of the season. Join in the fun now and access a powerful bundle of applications that is as equally suited for students and educators as it is for home users and professionals.

This is a great deal if you are in need of these application but didn’t have the money before.  Get them [Here]

  Today Google announced that they too are going the route of an app store to deliver content to Android users.  In an attempt to make an open source operating system that rivals Apple’s iPhone, Android is going all out to try and take the lead.  "Similar to YouTube, content can debut in the marketplace after only three simple steps: register as a merchant, upload and describe your content and publish it," Chu said. "We chose the term ‘market’ rather than ‘store’ because we feel that developers should have an open and unobstructed environment to make their content available."  android is slated to release to be available by the end of the year.

[Read]