Apple has something planned for Late January at a venue in San Francisco and the general consensus among speculators and rumor mongers is that it has something to do with the long rumored tablet device it has been working on. Reuters is reporting that the company behind the iPhone and iPod touch
has reserved space in late January at a venue in San Francisco in advance of a planned product announcement. this report is based on information gleaned for a Financial Times story that ran on Wednesday.

Apple has rented a stage at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and is rumored to be making a “major product announcement” on January 26. Apple would neither confirm nor deny the rumors. Apple used the Yerba Buena Center last September when it hosted an iPod event that featured the first public appearance by Chief Executive Steve Jobs following his return from a lengthy medical leave. In other words, this is one of Apple’s favorite venues for revealing or hosting very big things for the company.

The excitement surrounding a long rumored tablet computer is helping to fan the flames of this story no doubt, but apple has never officially confirmed that it is working on such a device. The speculation is that this device will resemble a larger version of its iPhone or iPod touch devices. While there has never been any confirmation on this device, analysts believe it to be true and predict that the device will launch in the Spring of 2010 – possibly March.

Apple has not become a successful company by accident. Its latest marketing strategy – using the iPod Touch to build product loyalty amongst kids, hoping to graduate them to iPhones – is nothing short of brilliant.

The iPod Touch was an extremely popular gift this Christmas season. Two different models of the popular music player were second and third place on Amazon’s list of bestselling electronics. On Christmas Day, downloads for the iPod Touch soared, passing downloads for the iPhone by 172 percent. Downloads for all generations of the iPod Touch increased by over 1000 percent on Christmas Day, and by over 900 percent for the 3G iPod Touch.

The iPod Touch is popular with kids because it is not just a music player; it also has the App store, which opens up a world of possibilities. Parents like the iPod Touch because it doesn’t require an expensive monthly contract like the iPhone does.

Apple likes the iPod Touch because it gets an entire generation of kids to want more Apple products, particularly the iPhone. When these kids are old enough for cell phones (or better cell phones than they have now), they will be ready for the iPhone, so to speak, because of their familiarity with the interface on the iPod Touch.

Apple’s iPod Touch may still be in line for a camera, according to renewed rumours online. We heard rumours of Apple working on a camera-toting iPod Touch in September but now the whispers are back…

According to an “inside source”, who spoke to the LA Gadgets Examiner, Apple did plan to launch an iPod Touch with a camera in September. However, quality control issues allegedly nixed its arrival.

iPod Touch teardown shots have already shown that the device has space for a camera in amongst its digital guts so this speculation sounds convincing. But, of course, it’s easy to claim an “inside source” as Apple never comments on speculation.

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The rumours suggest that the next generation of the iPod Touch will include the same camera as the iPod Nano. We’re not so sure about that. Will Apple restrict the iPod Touch to video recording as it has done with the iPod Nano?

As per the weekend reports, the latest operating system Windows 7 has fared better in market share than Apple’s Mac OS X. Net Applications has reported that Windows 7 has passed the 5% market share, which is more than the total market share of all versions of Apple's Mac OS X.

The internet metrics firm has also reported that, the Windows 7 has achieved the distinction of getting a constant 5% and 5.14% throughout the last week between Nov 15-21. The statistics also showed that its 5.07% for two-day average was also higher than the Mac OS X during that period.

"It's safe to say that Windows 7's daily share did peak above Mac's weekly share," said Vince Vizzaccaro, executive vice president at Net Applications.

According to Vizzaccaro, his company has not yet compiled daily averages for Mac OS X, but they are confident that Windows 7 will fare well for a long stretch.

"Certainly, the trend line shows Windows 7 will surpass Mac share soon," he predicted.

Statistics also shows that, Windows has done better than the previous share of 92.54% in October. Earlier, it had gained 0.28% in March 2008, the largest gain till now.

 "We may be seeing an uptick in overall Windows share this month," Vizzaccaro confirmed.

 "This isn't too rare, but if we see three or four months in a row of Windows regaining market share, that would be a significant trend change," he added.

It has been noticed that Windows 7’s market share is growing steadily since Oct 22 and soon it has also climbed up to 2.7% in OS sales. Its fourth week sale in October stood at 3.7%. So at the current pace of selling the new OS would cross 4% in market share gains.

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More and more musicians are turning to alternative outlets to get their work noticed, and they've expanded the media they're using in the process. The iPhone is a prime example - and it's inspired some great apps, from established artists and indie unknowns alike, that use technology to trump tradition.

Hi, How Are You : Ever heard of Daniel Johnston? Neither had we. But we know him now, having gotten hooked on this fun platformer/puzzle game hybrid that not only features the cult songwriter's music but also a series of cartoon characters he's developed over the years. Johnston didn't make the app - he let developers Dr. Fun Fun and Smashing Studios do that (they're big fans, no doubt) - but by lending his aesthetic to the game, he pleases diehards and newbies alike, who can sing along to his songs as they play. After a few repetitions of "Favorite Darling Girl" as we meandered our way through the first few levels, we found ourselves plunking down another 99 cents for the song on iTunes.

Bloom : The first in an ongoing series of apps from ambient music icon Brian Eno and partners is part mission statement, part stress-buster. Tap the screen to form raindrops of color and create tonal patterns that repeat and slowly fade, or choose a mood and let the app perform for you. It's a song, an album, a musical instrument and an interactive art exhibit, all in one.

I Am T-Pain : Auto-Tune has either ruined pop music or revolutionized it, depending on your perspective. Either way, the software that makes singing voices pitch-perfect - and a tinge robotic - is a heck of a lot of fun, especially when you can use it to sing along with exclusive backing tracks from the MC of Auto-Tune himself, hip-hopper T-Pain. And you can share your recordings via e-mail and Facebook.

***

Want to make your own sweet music? There are apps for that. Here are our picks for Best and Worst app-struments.

GRAB IT: LaDiDa : If you're serious about music, there are inside-baseball iPhone apps for recording and editing songs that go way over our heads. But for writing dumb ditties to annoy your little sister, LaDiDa is perfect. Just pick a style and tempo, sing into the mic and the app automatically loops in the backing track after you've finished recording. Think Microsoft Songsmith in your pocket.

SKIP IT: More Cowbell : For every groundbreaking app, there's a novelty app that's fun for about 15 seconds ... then makes you wonder if you could've put your dollar to better use. More Cowbell keeps the "SNL" joke alive, letting you tap a cowbell along with your iTunes library. It's amusing, but when will you ever use it?

Ballmer: sales have been 'fantastic' Photograph: Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Early sales of Windows 7 suggest that shoppers are switching toMicrosoft's new operating system in their droves, shrugging off the cloud cast by its predecessor, Windows Vista.

Analysis of sales figures by research firm NPD Group suggested that sales of Windows 7 in the United States were 234% higher than when Vista launched in January 2007.

"In a slow environment for packaged software Windows 7 brought a large number of customers into the software aisles"," said Stephen Baker, a vice president at NPD. "Vista had a slight advantage at launch, as January traditionally has a bigger sales footprint than October."

The positive news was backed up by comments yesterday from Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, who said that sales had been "fantastic".

High interest in the launch was already clear when Windows 7 hit shops on October 22nd, with Amazon UK saying that the software was thebiggest pre-order in the its history, outstripping phenomenally popular books such as Harry Potter and Dan Brown.

Ballmer also suggested that the surge of interest in Windows 7 had breathed some life into the troubled PC market.

"People don't buy operating systems, they buy computers with operating systems on them," he told an audience in Japan.

NPD's figures suggested that the system's launch had created an initial 49% surge in computer sales compared to the same point last year - a figure that is lower than the equivalent boost created by the release of Vista, though the disparity could be partly attributed to the slowdown in computer sales caused by the recession.

Figures from another research firm, IDC, suggested that computer sales had increased by 2.3% in the third quarter of the year - but most industry executives expect that number to increase significantly as customers consider buying new Windows 7 PCs in the run-up to Christmas.

Whatever the case, the numbers will come as a relief to Microsoft, which recently announced another problematic financial quarter and announced that it was cutting 800 jobs earlier this week.

View more images

12 November 2009 23:03 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Apple has started rolling out its tricked out iPod touch to its stores, to allow its salespeople to swipe your credit card regardless of where you are in the store.

The iPod touch-based point of sale (POS) systems includes an add-on scanner that lets employees scan multiple barcodes at the same time.

In addition to being able to show off Apple technology, switching to an iPod touch-based POS means employees won't have to rely on the Windows-based EasyPay devices they used to use and allows Apple to banish Microsoft from store all together (apart from software they actually sell).

Experienced first hand, the sales clerk was able to process our order, have a receipt sent to our address and move on to the next customer within a matter of minutes.

The Apple salesperson wasn't overly keen on letting us snap the shot so we promised not to mention which store we were in.

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It's probably the most important and debated piece of software on the modern computer. See how your fellow readers get around the net, and vote for your favorite web browser, in this week's Hive Five.

Picture background created with WEB2DNA Art Project.

The only proper way to follow up on the passionate flurry of voting that last week's Hive Five Best Linux Distributions created was to ask you about your favorite web browser. You didn't disappoint—Lifehacker readers came out in force, logging nearly a thousand votes to support their favorite browsers. We've tallied up the votes and we're here to share the top five browsers.

Chrome

Windows only (for practical purposes, but soon on Mac and Linux, if we're lucky): Some browsers have roots going back to the early 1990s—Chrome, on the other hand, is the new kid on the block. Although Chrome has a distant relationship to Konqueror and is a cousin to the Safari web browser—both share the speedy WebKit rendering engine—Google's browser is less than a year old. Despite its youth, it's already garnered praise for its minimalist interface and snappy page rendering. Chrome also handles site errors and quirks well, and each individual tab is a unique process, so a crash or lag in one shouldn't pull down or crash the others. In general, though, Chrome has caught attention for running a performance-focused JavaScript engine in a lightweight GUI. Also worth noting, Chrome has been holding its own in the recent Pwn2Own security challenge, with the distinction of being the only browser left standing after the first day of security exploits and attacks. For a closer look at Chrome, check out our screenshot tour.

Opera

Windows/Mac/Linux: Opera is a rock-solid browser with roots stretching back to 1994. Many of the features baked right into Opera are either not implemented in other browsers, or require multiple extensions at the cost of system resources—navigation by mouse gestures is one of the flashier examples. Despite being feature-packed, Opera has a fairly small market share, due largely in part to being trialware up until 2000 and advertisement-supported until 2005—many people were turned off by the expense, if not the ads. Still, Opera proponents have long claimed that Opera beats Internet Explorer and Firefox when it comes to speedy rendering. Another selling point for Opera is the quality of the built-in tools. For many users, the built-in RSS reader, email client, and BitTorrent client do their jobs admirably, cutting down on the number applications they need running at once. Opera is extensible, but the pool of available extensions is radically smaller than that available for Firefox. More screenshots and details on Opera's features are available here.

Firefox

Windows/Mac/Linux: Firefox is the grandchild of the venerable Mosaic browser and free-roaming son of Netscape. Although Firefox has a myriad of user-friendly, forward-thinking features, a decently secure framework, and an open-source ideology, its most prominent is extensibility. When convincing a Firefox user to abandon Firefox for anything else, even temporarily, you won't have to fight them over giving up the AwesomeBar or about:config tweaks—you'll hear a common, understandable refrain: "What about my extensions?" The repository of extensions maintained by Mozilla currently has over 6,000 entries, covering everything from blocking advertisements, to managing your clipboard, to allowing you to further customize your browsing experience with scripts a la Greasemonkey (here's 10 of our must-have picks). Combine the passion people have for extensions and the ability tosync those extensions across multiple computers and portable installations, and you've got a force to be contended with. For a closer look at Firefox, make sure to check out our power user's guide to Firefox 3 and the top 10 Firefox 3 features.

Internet Explorer

Windows only: Internet Explorer still commands a healthy chunk of the browser market, mostly because it ships with the most popular operating system on Earth and fits, if not exactly elegantly, into corporate computer plans. While many or most IE users stick with it for lack of wanting to try something else, Lifehacker readers definitely don't fall into that crowd—the majority of readers who voted in favor of Internet Explorer are sporting Internet Explorer 8. By contrast, nearly 20 percent of those surfing the web right now are using Internet Explorer 6, which had its initial release in 2001. Version 8 could mark a resurgence for the brand, though. It's the first version of Internet Explorer to have a strong focus on web standards compliance, as well as increasing rendering speed. And like Chrome, Internet Explorer 8 maintains a separate process for each tab to increase stability and security. Internet Explorer 8 has also beefed up its security measures from previous versions, including active filtering against malicious cross-site scripting and ActiveX isolation from the core of the browser. For more information about what's new in Internet Explorer 8 check out our screenshot tour and overview.

Safari

Windows/Mac: Safari is Apple's contribution to the web browsing world, built originally to fit snugly inside OS X. Like Chrome, Safari runs the speedy WebKit rendering engine for snappy page loads. In addition to its WebKit core, Safari also has the Nitro JavaScript engine, which lays claim to radically faster JavaScript execution than Internet Explorer and Firefox (in its own testing reports, anyways). Safari sports Apple's Cover Flow browser for perusing your history and bookmarks and an eye-catching display of the top 24 sites you've visited as the default page when Safari is loaded. For more features, check out ourscreenshot tour.

     Internet Explorer (64.66%; Usage by version number)     Mozilla Firefox (26.08%)     Safari (3.74%)     Google Chrome (3.17%)     Opera (1.53%)     Other (0.82%)

Some of you may have already seen the news but for those of you who haven’t you may want to take a look at this. That’s right kids, IW just took a massive pile of crap on you. Robert Bowlinig confirmed the following details recently:

According to the latest BASHandSlash recorded webcast (skip to the 1hour, 39minute mark for MW2), a number of very interesting bits of information have started to make their way onto the internet.

Robert Bowling has confirmed that the PC version of Call of Duty is essentially ruined as far as multiplayer and customization goes. Let’s get a quick rundown here of what Bowling said on the webcast.

• IW has control of the game
• IWnet servers will host multiplayer
• DLC will be a charged item for PC
• No dedicated servers <– WTF?
• Matchmaking system used to play with similarly ranked players
• VAC instead of PB
• Semi-capable password servers
• Semi-capable ad-hoc servers
• Competitive play is dead <– good job IW, idiots.
• MW2 mods would not be possible
• Full integration into Steam

I haven’t pre-ordered the game myself because when I pre-orderd COD5|WaW I ended up buying the game twice because the shipping was messed up. But you can be damn sure I won’t be spending $60 on a crippled piece of crap like this. If I wanted to have lame graphics, no mods, and no dedicated servers then I’d just go play on console. Not to mention controllers are a joke.

This news has really reuined my entire weekend, I was so excited for MW2 and now they just rip the dream away. I’ve been waiting for MW2 release for months and IW just took a huge steaming pile of shit on my dreams. I’m going to be stuck on COD4 until I’m 50 years old.

For those of you who have pre-ordered I encorage you to cancel your pre-orders. Do not let these assholes ruin MW2 for the PC community.

Here are some links for you to check out where you can join in the rioting:

• RAGE ON STEAM FORUMS
• RAGE ON CSNATION
• RAGE ON BASHANDSLASH
• SIGN THE PETITION HERE

For all you console gamers out there please understand where PC gamers are coming from. Yes, I know that these things are the way the game has been for you since the start but for us, it hasn’t. We pay lots of money to keep our gaming computers up to date with the latest hardware. We take great pride in our mods and competitive play. What IW has basically done here is kill it all off in the hopes they can make a few extra dollars from us. I really don’t know how to explain it to console gamers who have never played PC or know anything about PC gaming. If you’re a casual/weekend only gamer then the latest news about this means pretty much nothing to you. If you’re like me and many others who play Call of Duty daily or almost daily this news completely kills everything about MW2 and basically locks us into COD4 all so IW can try and make a few bucks off map packs and other downloaded content. I really expected better than this from IW, I am VERY disappointed.

I for one am TIRED of COD4 and I was really excited about MW2 and now this. I encorage everyone who has MW2 pre-ordered to cancel their order to make a statement.

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Apple has just announced that it will now support in-app purchasing for free applications on the App Store. This is absolutely huge news for developers, and will likely lead to a fundamental shift in the way applications are marketed and priced. It’s hard to overstate just how much this will change the App Store.

Up until now developers of premium applications have faced a major problem: they had no way to offer a feature-restricted version of an application for free that users could pay to unlock if they liked what they saw — a model that’s quite common on desktop software. This led to the creation of the so-called ‘Lite’ versions of applications, which generally offer a reduced featureset, but require users to download an entirely new application to access more features, which obviously isn’t ideal. Now, they won’t face this hurdle. They’ll be able to ditch the Lite version entirely, switch their currently premium app over to free (which will lead to more impulse downloads), and give users the chance to upgrade their featureset down the road.

This will also have a massive impact on free games that thrive on the sales of virtual goods, like Tapulous and Zynga. Up until now Tapulous has been unable to sell new songs through its flagship applications Tap Tap Revenge 1 and 2, because these are both free. In order to take advantage of the in-app purchase feature that Apple launched earlier this summer, Tapulous was forced to launch TTR3 as a 99 cent application. The app has still done extremely well, leading the Top Grossing charts for days, but it would have almost certainly gotten even more downloads had it been free.

Likewise, games like Zynga’s Mafia Wars and SGN’s Mafia: Respect and Retaliation have had to offer Lite version of their games, not necessarily because they wanted to restrict features to users, but because they had to charge something so that users could purchase virtual goods down the line. It looks like Zynga and others won’t be able to use virtual currency, which Apple has basically forbidden. However, don’t be surprised if they offer “packs” of upgrades that you can buy.

There have been various rumors as to why Apple restricted in-app purchases in free games to begin with. Some have speculated that Apple is concerned this will lead to many free apps that tempt users to download them and then do essentially nothing until you pay to unlock them, which is still a valid concern. Others believe it has to do Apple’s payment system, which may lack credit card information for users who only download free applications.

Here are some guidelines Apple is giving to developers for their integration of in-app purchases into free games:

1.1 You may use the In App Purchase API only to enable end users to purchase content, functionality, or services that You make available for use within Your Application (e.g. digital books, additional game levels, access to a turn-by-turn map service). You may not use the In App Purchase API to offer goods or services to be used outside of Your Application.

On Currency: 2.1 You may not use the In App Purchase API to enable an end user to set up a pre-paid account to be used for subsequent purchases of content, functionality, or services, or otherwise create balances or credits that end users can redeem or use to make purchases at a later time.

-No virtual currency

2.3 Content and services may be offered through the In App Purchase API on a subscription basis (e.g., subscriptions to a magazine, comic series, or financial reporting service); however, rentals of content, services or functionality through the In App Purchase API are not allowed (e.g., use of a particular game item or digital book for a pre-determined, limited period of time).

Note: This means that content owners won’t be able to let their content expire. This probably won’t be welcome news to many of them.

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Pretty much every morning and every night I download the newest build of Chromium for Mac (the open source builds that will eventually turn into Chrome for Mac). While we made an auto-updater to do it for you, you can also manually find the latest builds here. This morning, I visited this site and noticed something new: A Chrome OS folder.

Sadly, this is Linux-only for the time-being, but that makes some sense since Chrome OS is Linux-based. And lest you think it’s just the Chromium for Linux build, there are already other folders dedicated to that (including a 64-bit variety), and the Chrome OS builds weigh in at 139 megabytes versus around 19 megabytes for Chromium.

Last month, we poked around some of the open source Chromium directories and were able to find some interesting information about Chrome OS. This included limited information about a status bar and a navigation bar, both of which will likely be key parts of Chrome OS. A scan today of various directories brings up even more interesting information.

Here, you will find some information about the compact navigation bar (there will be a “main menu” button), there’s some sort of “clock menu button,” there is some kind of document viewer called “GView” (that will at least be able to view PDFs), there will be a network menu button, and this is all being tested on a “touchpad.”

Wait, what?

Yes, at the bottom of the page, you will see two files that reference something called “touchpad.” From the language in these files, it’s not entirely clear if this is refering to a notebook trackpad or some sort of touch tablet that Google is testing Chrome OS on. Here’s an example:


Add touchpad speed factor setting to Chrome OS touchpad settings page. Created slider widget with native gtk widget.

And:

Make vertical edge scroll false by default. Fixed sensitivity parameter values and inverted the relationship between touch sensitivity preference and synclient parameter value.

It could go either way, but the wording on the latter makes me think that it’s just for notebook trackpads, so don’t get your hopes up about an “Apple Tablet Killer” just yet. Still, it seems reasonable that with a lot of manufacturers gettings into the tablet game again, Chrome OS will eventually work on them as well.



Article By TechCrunch

We get the strangest e-mails in the MobileCrunch tips line. Sometimes people will write in to tell us about their
day, using us as an archaic, vacuum-esque livejournal. Other times (and quite often), internet newbies fail to realize this isn’t a store, and ask us when we’ll have such and such item in stock. Less often, we’ll get random little gems of self-created goodness that I’m never quite sure what to do with; they’re not news, per se, but they’re still rather interesting.

Such is the case with this concept video (after the jump) from Swedish design house Ocean Observations. It looks rather flashy and neat, but I’m left wondering: would anyone use it?

It’s like OS X’s Expose feature, tweaked for iPhone app screens. Tap the home button, and up to 9 pages of homescreen are shown in a grid. Tapping any of the displayed pages will jump you directly to that page, allowing you to skip from page 1 to page 8 without swiping 7 times. If Apple provided this as one of the home button behavior alternatives, would you use this? It seems to me like the primary use would be launching a specific app; if that’s the case, why not just use search – which can already be tied to the home button?



Article By MobileCrunch

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The version of Windows that succeeds Windows 7 will include a 128-bit architecture, according to an embarrassing leak from Microsoft's research and development team in the US.

Microsoft employee Robert Morgan appeared to detail the software giant's plans for Windows 8, and even Windows 9, on business networking site LinkedIn, where he listed his job as 'senior research and development'. His profile has now been removed from the main LinkedIn site, but is still viewable in Google's search cache.In it, he says he's "working in high security department for research and development involving strategic planning for medium and longterm projects."

He goes on to say his R&D projects include: "128-bit architecture compatibility with the Windows 8 kernel and Windows 9 project plan." He's also responsible for "forming relationships with major partners: Intel, AMD, HP and IBM."

Windows 7, due to become available worldwide on October 22, is available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. (See "Windows 7 Performance Tests.")

Indeed, we've had the option of 64-bit versions of Windows since Windows XP Professional x64 Edition was launched May 2005. But while XP's successor, Vista, is also available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions, the latter has failed to take off in a big way.

64-bit computers, which can address more RAM and are theoretically more powerful than 32-bit equivalents, are likely to become more popular with Windows 7. A 128-bit version of Windows 8 would represent the next leap in performance.

According to Microsoft's plans to release a new desktop version of Windows every three years, Windows 8 is scheduled to become available in 2012.

Tap Tap Revenge 3 Link is HERE

Tapulous’s latest update to its massively successful Tap Tap Revenge franchise will soon be live on the App Store. It looks as though the app was supposed to be live by now according to an article on TUAW, though it doesn’t appear to be available quite yet (we’ll update with a link as soon as it is). The new app brings with it plenty of gameplay enhancements, but the biggest change here is support for in-app song purchases. This means you’ll be able to choose from a roster of premium songs created by well known artists and buy the ones you like — giving users more choice than ever, and giving Tapulous a lucrative new source of revenue.

Gamers would have loved to be able to purchase songs in-game before now, but for the first year of the App Store’s existence Apple didn’t allow for that functionality at all, so Tapulous was forced to release standalone premium packs (as they did with Weezer, Nine Inch Nails, and others). These apps have done well, but Tapulous was always faced with the challenge of getting users to download an entirely new application with each release. Update: CEO Bart Decrem says that the company has sold over 500,000 premium apps at $5 each, so obviously they weren’t exactly struggling. Now they’re be able to sell track packs through a single application.

Up until now TTR’s flagship games have been free, which helped them get great distribution (the original Tap Tap Revenge was the most downloaded game of 2008), but has turned into something of a thorn in Tapulous’s side. With the release of the iPhone 3.0 software update this summer Apple finally allowed applications to offer in-app purchases, but they offered this option only for premium apps — that’s why TTR3 costs 99 cents. Tapulous will have to find a way to get its users on other apps to switch over to TTR3, but it should be able to facilitate the switch by cross-promoting in TTR1, 2 and the aforementioned premium apps.

The TUAW article includes a full listing of songs that will able available through the app, which are available as 6-track bundles for $2.99 and 2-song bundles for 99 cents.

Here’s a sampling of the tracks available:

BLINK 182 – “Adam’s Song” / “All the Small Things” / “Dammit” / “First Date” / “The Rock Show” / “What’s My Age Again”

FALL OUT BOY – “Thanks for the Memories” / “Sugar, We’re Goin Down” / “Dance, Dance” / “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race” / “I Don’t Care” / “American Suitehearts”

FOO FIGHTERS – “The Pretender” / “Wheel” / “My Hero” / “Best of You” / “Monkey Wrench” / “All My Life”

THE KILLERS – “Mr. Brightside” / “Sweet Talk” / “Human” / “When We Were Young” / “All These Things That I’ve Done” / “Read My Mind”

We’ve been tracking the new version for some time now (the company had planned to have it out by the end of August but it was delayed). Among the features in the new version are over 100 free songs, custom themes and avatars, integrated chat, and a multiplayer online gaming arena.

HERE IS THE LINK FOR TTR3

Tapulous’s latest update to its massively successful Tap Tap Revenge franchise will soon be live on the App Store. It looks as though the app was supposed to be live by now according to an article on TUAW, though it doesn’t appear to be available quite yet (we’ll update with a link as soon as it is). The new app brings with it plenty of gameplay enhancements, but the biggest change here is support for in-app song purchases. This means you’ll be able to choose from a roster of premium songs created by well known artists and buy the ones you like — giving users more choice than ever, and giving Tapulous a lucrative new source of revenue.

Gamers would have loved to be able to purchase songs in-game before now, but for the first year of the App Store’s existence Apple didn’t allow for that functionality at all, so Tapulous was forced to release standalone premium packs (as they did with Weezer, Nine Inch Nails, and others). These apps have done well, but Tapulous was always faced with the challenge of getting users to download an entirely new application with each release. Update: CEO Bart Decrem says that the company has sold over 500,000 premium apps at $5 each, so obviously they weren’t exactly struggling. Now they’re be able to sell track packs through a single application.

Up until now TTR’s flagship games have been free, which helped them get great distribution (the original Tap Tap Revenge was the most downloaded game of 2008), but has turned into something of a thorn in Tapulous’s side. With the release of the iPhone 3.0 software update this summer Apple finally allowed applications to offer in-app purchases, but they offered this option only for premium apps — that’s why TTR3 costs 99 cents. Tapulous will have to find a way to get its users on other apps to switch over to TTR3, but it should be able to facilitate the switch by cross-promoting in TTR1, 2 and the aforementioned premium apps.

The TUAW article includes a full listing of songs that will able available through the app, which are available as 6-track bundles for $2.99 and 2-song bundles for 99 cents.

Here’s a sampling of the tracks available:

BLINK 182 – “Adam’s Song” / “All the Small Things” / “Dammit” / “First Date” / “The Rock Show” / “What’s My Age Again”

FALL OUT BOY – “Thanks for the Memories” / “Sugar, We’re Goin Down” / “Dance, Dance” / “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race” / “I Don’t Care” / “American Suitehearts”

FOO FIGHTERS – “The Pretender” / “Wheel” / “My Hero” / “Best of You” / “Monkey Wrench” / “All My Life”

THE KILLERS – “Mr. Brightside” / “Sweet Talk” / “Human” / “When We Were Young” / “All These Things That I’ve Done” / “Read My Mind”

We’ve been tracking the new version for some time now (the company had planned to have it out by the end of August but it was delayed). Among the features in the new version are over 100 free songs, custom themes and avatars, integrated chat, and a multiplayer online gaming arena.