Apple

So much for the Apple touch pad / HD video movie / Cocktail music media / netbook killer / iPad tablet running Snow Leopard. The latest "scoop" from an "insider" points to a device more focused on movies, music and email than actual computing. iPhone OS anyone?

According to a "tip" from a "reliable source" the new Apple device is scheduled to be announced in January and will hit store shelves a few months later. Retail price? Could be too expensive for a glorified iPod Touch.

The App Store has only been online for five quarters, yet it continues to impress with a staggering number of offerings and purchases. Apple has announced there are now 85,000 iPhone and iPod Touch applications available via iTunes.

50 million people own a compatible Apple device and 125,000 software developers are participating in the Apple iPhone Developer Program. 1.5 billion individual downloads were clocked on the App Store within the first year of its operation.

Only two weeks after releasing iTunes 9, Apple has released an update with numerous bug fixes and improvements. One notable change is that the green zoom button brings up the mini-player, just like it did before iTunes 9 took that away.

Another issue resolved by iTunes 9.0.1 is the ordering of podcasts. Some users were complaining that these files were not sorted properly in version 9.

One of the most common problems reported with the iPhone 3.1 firmware update is significantly reduced battery life. Apple has noticed the issue, and some AppleCare employees have sent requests for more information from affected users.

Until now, Apple has recommended that 3.1 problems can be solved either with a hard reboot or a complete restore using iTunes. The restore method results in a reset iPhone and the owner has to reconfigure settings from scratch.

Now that the number of iPhone applications is quickly approaching six digits, finding useful software seems to get more difficult every day. You may have heard that Apple is working on ways to improve the search for iPhone apps in the App Store and iTunes.

Now Microsoft is getting into the game with their Bing search engine. They've added a visual search gallery for top iPhone apps based on the company's Silverlight technology.