Edible Apple

In a recent note to investors Merrill Lynch analyst Scott Craig wrote that Apple is on target to sell approximately 33 million iPhones in 2010, a figure he believes is attainable regardless of whether or not Apple strikes a deal to sell the iPhone on Verizon.

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Apple says there’s an app for just about everything, and it’s really hard to take umbrage with that. Case in point - a new app from Davka titled iBless Torah that teaches users the ceremonial blessings said both before and after one reads from the Torah.

The app description reads:

Learn to chant the Torah and haftarah blessings! iBless Torah includes the full text of the blessings recited before and after the Torah and Haftarah readings, complete with audio, vowelized Hebrew and transliterated text. As the blessings are changed, the Hebrew and transliterated text is highlighted, one word at a time.

The app is available on iTunes for $1.99. Just remember not to bring your iPhone up to the bimah with you!

CNET writes:

In fact, 9 out of 10 of this year’s nominees in the “Documentary Feature” and “Documentary Short” categories used Final Cut Studio to make their films. Final Cut Studio includes Final Cut Pro, Motion, Soundtrack Pro, Color, Compressor, and DVD Studio Pro, essentially giving filmmakers all of the tools they need to make a movie.

TUAW has a fascinating read on how Ngmoco went to work developing Eliminate, a kick-ass first person shooter.

Apple yesterday released a new beta of the iPhone SDK 3.2 and developers are already finding a few telling items. But first, developers have found that the most recent SDK removes all references to video chat and conferencing functionality which abounded in the previous SDK. Either Apple has no plans to implement video chat on the iPad, or it’s trying to keep its plans under wraps.

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At this year’s CES, Steve Ballmer briefly showcased an upcoming HP slate device running Windows 7. Largely positioned to contend against the iPad, HP’s slate offering promises “all day battery life”, and of course, the much ballyhooed flash support the iPad famously lacks.

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This isn’t Apple related, but is too ridiculous to pass up. Everyone’s favorite burned out actress, Lindsay “I was kind of cute in that one movie” Lohan, is suing E-trade claiming that one of its famed ‘talking baby’ commercials disparages her reputation because one of the babies references a “milkaholic” named Lindsay.

“They used the name Lindsay,” Lohan’s lawyer Stephanie Ovadia said. “They’re using her name as a parody of her life. Why didn’t they use the name Susan? This is a subliminal message. Everybody’s talking about it and saying it’s Lindsay Lohan.”

Lohan is asking for $100 million in damages for alleged pain and suffering.

What can we take away from all of this? Well, just off the top of my head, we can gather that Lindsay Lohan is a washed up movie star whose career peaked with “Mean Girls.” Never living up to her potential, she embarked on a drug and alcohol ridden path towards self-destruction all before the age of 21. Having learned nothing from her struggles with addiction, Lohan still thinks the world revolves around her and naturally assumes that any mention of the name ‘Lindsay” in pop culture is in reference to her.

And one more thing, she’s anything but attractive. Now let’s all toast to frivolous lawsuits!

Dan Moren on why iTunes LPs have failed to attract the attention of consumers:

At the risk of sounding blindingly obvious, today’s music market isn’t what it was 35 years ago. More than anything, the rise of iTunes and the iPod has made music pervasive in our lives. For most people, listening to music is something you do while you’re doing something else, not an activity that occupies your entire mind. By contrast, the iTunes LP requires the same kind of attention that you might give to a movie or a book. While that might appeal to the serious music fan, it’s overkill for most consumers.

Well said.

via Macworld

Apple’s App Store is in many ways the lynch-pin that helps the iPhone maintain its status as the top smartphone on the market. While competitors continue to mimic the iPhone’s UI, one area where companies like Google, RIM, and Palm have struggled is in creating an app store comparable to the massively successful iTunes App Store.

Recently, though, Android has emerged as the most potent threat to the iPhone. With overall sales of Android handsets increasing, some have suggested that Apple’s lead in the mobile app market will wither away as developers begin porting their apps over to the Android Marketplace.

But not so fast there, chief. Even if the number of Android users continues to rise, developers may very well stick with the iPhone platform because it allows them to scale more efficiently across various hardware devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch) with minimal cost.

Smule is one such example.

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From the original Mac to the iMac to the iPod and even the iPhone, early reviews of revolutionary products tend to evoke a lot of negative reactions. The Week takes us back in time and examines what reviewers have historically thought about Apple’s latest and greatest creations.

Well, it’s finally here. Street Fighter IV is now available for the iPhone. Now before you get all excited and rush over to iTunes to download it, you might be well advised to take a look at TUAWs’ review of the app.

Before you go press buy, though, I’ll also tell you that I got a chance to play the game, and while it is about as faithful a Street Fighter IV game as you can get on the iPhone, playing a fighting game without actual buttons is not really an ideal experience. While I was able to pull off a Hadoken and almost all of the other old moves after a few tries, the highest levels of competition in a fighting game require precision and subtlety, and this control scheme has neither of those. If you just want to play Street Fighter on an iPhone, sure — be an early adopter, pick up the game, and enjoy a few rounds of Guile vs. Ryu. But if you’re looking for the kind of in-depth fighting experience that Street Fighter IV on consoles and in the arcades offered, you probably won’t find it here — the controls are a little too inconsistent to really dig into the deep counter and powerup systems on display.

Well that’s disappointing, but certainly not surprising. Games with complex and precise controls like Street Fighter simply don’t lend themselves well to a touchscreen with no physical buttons. Similar problems are apparent in other ports, like Madden ‘09 for the iPhone.

Now there’s a chance that control issues might be less of a problem on the iPad, given its large screen size, but we won’t be holding our breath. At the same time, it’s Street Fighter IV on the freagin’ iPhone! Maybe we shouldn’t be so cynical as to expect a true to life arcade gaming experience. We’ve just been burned by hyped up $9.99 games too many times before (we’re looking in your direction, GTA: Chinatown).

To be fair, though, the majority of reviews for the app on iTunes seem to be overwhelmingly positive. So if you can’t wait to pit Ryu into an epic battle against Blanca, then by all means, go for it.

You can download the app on iTunes over here for $9.99.

A candid shot of Steve Jobs having a conversation with filmmaker Jon Chu at this year’s Oscars Awards.

title and photo via Nathan Bowers