Sketchy MP3 Downloader Soars to No. 1 in iPhone App Store

A sketchy music downloader surpassed Angry Birds on Tuesday to become the best-selling iPhone app in Apple’s App Store. Minutes after Wired.com staff bought the music downloader, Apple yanked it from the App Store.
The app, called Any Music Downloader, allowed customers to find any MP3 on the web and download it onto the iPhone drive. From there, you could play downloaded songs through the Any Music Downloader app.
It’s like having a free iTunes music store on the iPhone. On the road and aching to hear the latest Radiohead album? Visit an MP3 website such as Mp3skull.com, search for the songs, label the file and hit download, and the songs are yours to keep.
After downloading a song onto the iPhone, you can sync it to iTunes on your computer, and then you can copy the downloaded songs into your iPhone’s iPod player.
That’s nowhere near as convenient as iTunes, but it’s seamless enough for the price of $0 per track.
It’s questionable whether the app was legal: the browser inside the app allowed you to navigate to any MP3-serving website, legal or not, to grab music.
Clearly Apple wasn’t pleased, since the company quickly yanked the app. Apple hasn’t responded to a request for comment.
The Any Music Downloader app was $2 when it soared to No. 1 in the paid apps list on Tuesday. Previously, it was priced at $10.

Tethering apps 'blocked' in Android Market

Some of the nation's biggest wireless carriers are trying to put the kibosh on free apps that let Google Android users use their smartphones as modems without paying the carriers' extra fee.

 

Several blogs have reported in recent days that free Android phone tethering apps that are typically found in the Android Market are not available for Android phones on AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and T-Mobile USA.
Sprint customers apparently are still able to access many of these tethering apps from the Android Market.
Reports first surfaced from the blog DroidLife that the free tethering app Wireless Tether could not be downloaded onto AT&T and Verizon Wireless handsets.
AT&T and Verizon representatives declined to comment, and said that Google chooses which apps are in the Android Market. Neither company would comment on whether they asked Google to remove the Wireless Tether app or any other free tethering app from the Android Market.
A Google spokesman told Fierce Wireless that it is not blocking the app. Instead it's simply making it unavailable for download on certain carrier networks at the request of those carriers. If an application is in direct violation of the terms and conditions of a usage contract, a carrier can request Google make the app unavailable, the spokesman told Fierce Wireless.
In essence, the apps are still on the Google Market, but they are just not visible to users on certain carrier networks. Apps are only hidden from view if they are in direct violation of the carrier's terms of service.
But that doesn't mean that AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and T-Mobile customers can't get access to these apps. Any app can still be side-loaded onto the device. So if the developer distributes the application file in a way other than the Android Market (say, just as a download from a Web site) a user can install that on his device.
AT&T has recently made a big push to ensure that people pay to use its smartphones as wireless modems. AT&T has been sending e-mails warning users who are tethering their phones without paying the extra fee. AT&T charges $20 extra per month for the tethering feature. Customers who tether are given 4GB of data to use during the month. Customers who exceed that limit are charged $10 a gigabyte thereafter.
T-Mobile USA charges $15 a month in addition to a smartphone data plan for 5GB worth of data per month. And Verizon Wireless charges its smartphone customers $20 a month on top of its $30 smartphone data fee to use up to 2GB of data per month.

iTunes 10.2.2 released by Apple

Apple pushed a new update for their iTunes media player today. The new version of iTunes is not altered cosmetically, and merely fixes a number of bugs. iTunes 10.2.2 follows up to version 10.2.1, which released early in March. According to the information listed in Apple's Software Update application, the new version of iTunes fixes the following bugs:

• Addresses an issue where iTunes may become unresponsive when syncing an iPad.
• Resolves an issue which may cause syncing photos with iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to take longer than necessary.
• Fixes a problem where video previews on the iTunes Store may skip while playing.
• Addresses other issues that improve stability and performance.

All of these changes come in addition to the two main changes with 10.2.1, namely the ability to sync with devices running iOS 4.3, and the ability to use these devices with the Home Sharing feature.

Download:

iTunes 10.2.2 can be downloaded by paying a visit to Apple's website, or through the Apple Software Update client.

Apple Sues Samsung Galaxy S Phone and Tab For Copying iPhone and iPad

Apple has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Samsung for the Galaxy line of products. Apple claims that Samsung has infringed on their rights with the Galaxy S phones and Tab by violating various patents which were assigned to Apple by US PTO.
According to a Reuters report, Samsung is copying Apple’s ideas, specifically the shape of the company’s smart phones and the icons that the phones display. Apparently Apple is concerned with the rounded corners on the icons as the lawsuit states, “Even the icons in earlier versions of the Samsung smart phones looked different because they had a variety of shapes -- and did not appear as a field of square icons with rounded corners.” They are also upset that Samsung’s smart phone looks similar to the iPhone with its rounded corners.
Apple is looking forward to get a restraining order against Samsung which is a major supplier in the smartphone industry. A representative from Apple told Mobilized:

It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging.. This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.

Samsung predictably replied that they will actively protect their own intellectual property and defend themselves from Apple’s lawsuit.

Seas0npass Updated, Now Supports Untethered iOS 4.3.1 (4.2.1) Jailbreak on Apple TV

Seas0npass Apple TV 2G jailbreak tool has released an updated version of Seas0nPass based on i0n1c untethered exploit for 4.3.1 iOS.Seas0nPass is dedicated jailbreak tool only for jailbreaking Apple TV 2G. There are already tools like Reds0w 0.9.6rc9 & PwnageTool  4.3 to untethered jailbreak 4.3.1. but these tools are only iPad,iPhone.
So if you haven’t jailbreaked your Apple TV then follow below guide on how ot jailbreak 4.3.1 Apple TV 2G with Seas0npass. only Mac version is available for download at the moment, windows version will be released soon.

Requirements

• iTunes  10.2.1
• Download  Seas0nPass
• A micro USB cable will be required to complete the jailbreak.

How to Jailbreak Apple TV 4.3.1 iOS with Seas0nPass:

Step 1. Extract Seas0npass zip content on desktop and start Seas0npass app.

Step 2. Select Create IPSW option, and Seas0npass will download latest iOS 4.3 for Apple TV to create iOS 4.3 custom firmware

Step 3. When prompted, connect your AppleTV 2G using a micro-USB cable (leave power disconnected), and hold both the ‘MENU’ and ‘PLAY/PAUSE’ buttons for 7 seven seconds.

Step 4. iTunes will open automatically and start the restore process.

Step 5. iTunes will confirm the restore when complete – your AppleTV is now jailbroken.

How to Run iOS Apps in Your Web Browser with Piecable Viewer

Run iOS Apps in Your Web Browser with Piecable Viewer

The Piecable Viewer service provides App developers with a best way of giving people access to their applications for testing, without having to worry about iTunes redemption codes or the UDID limit Apple places on developer accounts.

• All they have to do is sign up to the Piecable service and choose one of its tiered pricing plans, add an extra line of code to their application, and upload it to the service.
• They receive a link to the app on the web which can be sent out to agencies, clients, organizations, and the press, enabling the recipient to play around with the application in their web browser.
• The tiered price plans start at $30 a month, which allows 3 people to access an app simultaneously and a maximum of 5 app uploads. $60 a month allows 10 people to access an app simultaneously and unlimited app uploads. Both packages provide app links that never expire, so the URL you receive will always point to your application.
• For free, developers can upload one app and have one viewer at any one time. However, the link to their application will expire after one hour.

You can go and play around with the Piecable Viewer to see how it works right away. It already features 6 applications to try out, including Yelp, Hipmunk, and Loopt.