The books that are available are part of Project Gutenberg, a movement to distribute older works that have reached public domain status. Whilst the books are free, copyright law prevents work being entered into the public domain until every last possible skerrick of change can be stripped from the book +about 50 years. So if your after anything recent, your out of luck.

What is surprising is that other publishing platforms have been able to get the deals done to distribute Australian titles electronically. Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Barnes & Noble and Borders all have their own iPad applications offering a decent catalogue (including coloured covers). So while competition is usually great for consumers, Apple’s “integrated experience” is essentially broken when it comes to iBooks as users have to resort to alternate options.

The current state of iBooks in Australia is a shame given the iBooks app actually has some great features. iBooks does great job with iPhone/iPad page synchronization and PDF support.

Below you can see screens from the US iBooks store, full of engaging, colourful book covers. This is a result of Apple establishing deals with multiple US-based publishing / distributing firms.

So how long will Australians have to wait for a decent iBooks offering ? Are book publishers hesitant to hand over their library to Apple in fear of being the new Music industry.

The US has it, but we’re still waiting… iPhone 4 is on its way and Optus want to know if your interested. Launching a new site today http://optus.com.au/iphone4 Optus want to know how much liquid nitrogen they should pour on their servers to keep them up on launch day. Note, this is not pre-ordering, just registering your interest. If you do complete the form, you should be hearing from Optus shortly.

I went for the black 32GB iPhone 4.. which one are you after ?

Tomorrow is the 22nd of June, while that date might not sound familiar, the 21st of June should. The fantastic timezone system we have means tomorrow our time, will be the 21st in the US, or Apple’s iOS4 launch day. While the 4th generation iPhone hardware is still a few days of in the US and a month away in Australia, the software is almost here for iPhone 3G, 3GS and iPod touch owners. This time round, it’s free for everyone, likely because Apple wants the most people on the new platform to see their mobile iAds.

Developers have had iOS4 for months now, ironing out the bugs and working hard to update their apps ready for the launch. Over the past few days we’ve seen a slew of updates coming through the App Store in preparation. So now you know what’s coming, why should you care?

Folders, Multitasking, Complex passcodes
At first try, folders can seem fairly unnecessary and more complicated than just pressing on apps to launch. The extra step of opening the folder, then your app can seem slower, but after using folders for some time, you quickly realise it’s genius. I have 10 pages of apps, but rarely leave the 1st home page. Folders allow quick access your most commonly used applications while the other home pages are for occasional use apps, so flipping to them once in a while, or searching works fine.

Some (currently very limited) applications available now support running in the background or partial multitasking. One of the few scenarios where this comes in handy is streaming audio. Tunemark is one of the first to add multitasking support, allowing music to stream uninterrupted while exiting the app and performing other tasks on the iPhone.

If your extra conscious of security, then maybe the restriction to a 4-digits unlock passcode has concerned you. In iOS4 this is remedied, now allowing for alpha numeric combinations, just make sure you can remember it.

Multiple exchange, Single Inbox, Camera/Photos upgraded.
If your work uses exchange and you use gmail to get personal push email, contacts and calendar, there was previously no way to setup more than one exchange account. In iOS4 you can and it works great ! This is recognition that people have home and work lives and want a single device that’ll do both.

The camera application has been updated to allow focus point shifting while recording video (3GS only) as well as digital zoom while taking photos. The Photos app has also had an update with the addition of Places, this uses the geotag information on photos to overlay pins on a map, indicating where photos were taken. Pressing on a pin shows the photos taken at that location.

The update will appear in iTunes when you have your device selected, click update.

Update
iOS4 is now available, go get it kids. And grab any app updates available to take advantage of multitasking.

More @ Apple

From the screens above you can see the Windows Live Messenger iPhone app reflects the new Wave 4 UI available on http://home.live.com and will soon come to Windows Live Essentials desktop applications.

Functionality wise, the iPhone app allows you to see your social updates from your friends, from various different social networks all in a single stream. In-line commenting is supported. You can also upload photos directly from your iPhone to Windows Live, as well as accessing your hotmail email without exiting the app. The app also supports push notifications, so you can leave the app and still receive notifications when chat replies arrive.

View Full Album

Another important feature is the ability to sign into the iPhone app while still signed into your desktop messenger client. This is handy if your back and fwd to your desk a lot and handy inclusion.

The Photos section gives you access to your photos uploaded to http://photos.live.com and actually supports pinch and zoom gestures to resize the thumbnails, as well as a slideshow option.

Unfortunately Australian’s can’t currently download the app, hopefully this is fixed quickly, as Microsoft has spent a great deal of effort promoting just how many Australian’s use their services.

More @ iTunes Preview via My Microsoft Life

2.4Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo 2GB memory 320GB HDD 8x dual-layer DVD

NVIDIA GeForce 320M GPU SD card reader HDMI (HDMI to DVI adapter inc) Snow Leopard

All this will set you back A$999. Here in lies the problem.

OSX 10.6.4
The latest update to Snow Leopard delivers mostly just bug fixes, but has one key exception.. the inclusion of Safari 5. With this inclusion Apple is pushing Mac users to move to the HTML5 compatible Safari 5. This is surely an important preperation in what Apple have planned for future.

iPhone 4 Sold Out

While Australians are still waiting for their turn, the iPhone 4 pre-orders caused quite the controversy in the US with servers melting under the demand. Hard to believe this is still happening to major tech companies in 2010. Delivery date for US pre-orders have now moved from June 24th to July 2nd for new orders. The iPhone is set to go on sale here in Australia by the end of July, hopefully there’s enough to go around. Expect Aus pre-orders to start early July.

Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference has just begun (3am AEST). I’ll be posting the main announcements as they happen, right here so stay tuned. As more details emerge this post will be updated. It’s expected that Steve Jobs will announce the 4th generation iPhone which is said to be called the iPhone HD. Given the developer focus of the conference and the recent launch of the iPad expect Apple to be giving lots of incentives for developers to create dedicated iPad applications. We may even see iPhone OS 4.0 software for the iPad released, stay tuned.

Update
Apple have just gone live with their official iPhone 4 site featuring a new gallery and video.

Event details:

• Over 5,200 attendees
• 57 countries
• Sold out in 8 days!

iPad details:

• 2 Million sold (One every 3 seconds)
• iPad specific apps are up to 8,500.
• 35 Million iPad apps downloaded (17 apps per iPad)
• 5 Million iBooks downloaded (2.5 books per iPad)

Apps:

• iBooks will now support PDF, coming to the iPhone (with wireless sync)
• Netflix for iPhone (US only)
• Farmville coming to the iPhone
• Guitar Hero for the iPhone
• Apple have paid One Billion Dollars to developers (and taken 30%)

 
Image source: GDGT

iPhone 4 announced

• New industrial design – ‘Really gorgeous, really thin’
• 9.3mm thick – ‘thinnest smartphone on the plannet’
• Front facing camera with LED flash
• 326 ppi resolution display, 960 x 640 resolution, 800:1 contrast ratio (4x the res of the iPhone 3G/3GS)
• Same A4 processor as the iPad
• Up to 32GB of storage
• Moving to the Micro SIM
• Improved Battery life – 3G talk (7hrs), Browsing on WiFi (10hrs), Video (10hrs), Music (40hrs), Standby (300hrs)
• Includes Gyroscope
• 5 Megapixel camera with a back side illuminated sensor [samples]
• Records HD video (1280×720 @ 30fps)
• iMovie for iPhone announced (US$4.99), export in 360p, 540p 720p.

iPhone OS renamed to iOS4

• 1500 new features including multitasking
• Bing added as a search option
• iOS4 Gold Master coming to developers today

 
Image source: Engadget

FaceTime

• Ridiculous name
• Video calling using the front facing camera
• Wi-Fi only in 2010, Apple working with carriers.

Availability

iPhone 4 will be available in 2 colors, black and white. Price is $199 in the US for the 16GB model, and US$299 for the 32GB model. 3G discontinued, 3GS will drop in price.

Pre-orders (may be US-only) start June 15th.

The release of iPhone 4 will be in 5 countries initially on June 24th 2010 – US, France, Germany, UK, Japan. In July 2010, they release in 24 more countries including Australia.

iOS4 arrives June 21st, available for free to iPhone and iPod touch owners. Some features (multitasking) won’t be supported on older versions.

More @ Apple

Accessories
After owning your iPad for a while, you’ll start to open your mind to further possibilities and use cases for the device. One way to extend the functionality of the iPad is to look at accessories. Unfortunately Apple are notorious for charging an arm and leg for accessories, still, if you want the functionality, your left with little choice other than to fork over the cash.

I chose to get the Dock connector to VGA cable, the camera connection kit and the 10W USB power adapter.

iPad Dock Connector to VGA Adapter (A$39.00)

The VGA cable is designed to output the iPad content to a larger screen. I’ll be using it to control content on the 24” monitor in the background of the podcast. Unfortunately there’s no way to stream the entire iPad interface, output is only supported in specific applications. It works in Video, YouTube and Photos, but only when you run a slideshow, not while your browsing your library. TWiTPad supports video out for the stream, but doesn’t fill the screen with the chat window, it should. It’s really hit and miss, Joost for example doesn’t support VGA output at all. Also remember you’ll be left with the audio coming out of the iPad unless you run a 3.5mm cable out of the headphone port.

This accessory does not work with the iPhone.

Camera Connection Kit (A$39.00)

Featuring 2 dongles that hang unstylishly from the bottom of the iPad, you can connect your camera via USB, or remove the SD card from your camera and insert into the SD dongle. Importing supports both RAW+JPG file types, making it great for DSLR cameras. After importing some or all of the photos, you are prompted to choose whether photos should remain on the card or not. Importing photos actually had a pretty dramatic effect on performance of the iPad, so while you can use other apps while importing happens, you may not want to.

As an added bonus, the USB dongle of the Camera Connection kit supports USB headphones for listening to you favourite tunes. This actually works really well, so expect the iPad 2 to have a USB port built in.

This accessory does not work with the iPhone.

10W USB Power Adapter (A$39.00)

One of the biggest annoyances with the iPad is it’s sporadic charging behaviour. When you connect your iPad to your computer via USB, you’ll find that some ports will have enough power to charge the iPad while the screen is on, when others will not. If you turn the screen off, the 5Ws for most USB ports is enough to charge the device, slowly. With the 10W Power adapter, you can plug your iPad into mains power and have it charge, while in use. This is incredibly valuable when running the iPad as a supplementary display or long-term digital photo frame. The battery is great in the iPad, but it won’t last days.. this solution will.

More info @ Apple

Today marks the official release of the iPad not only in Australia, but also in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. Being positioned where we are in the timezones meant Australians were second only to the US to get their hands on the device.

Apple sold one million iPads in the US in just 28 days after launch, with strong sales continuing. With the first wave of an international rollout happening today, expect that number to grow substantially.

Naturally it’s an exciting time for people who purchase their iPad today and for some, getting to touch the device for the first time. As you can see from the graphic above, the iPad comes with a fairly vanilla set of pre-loaded applications. New iPad owners should head to the App Store for 3rd party applications which dramatically enhance the usefulness of the iPad. There’s a good mixture of free and paid, with a lot of Australian-based applications arriving in the store today.

iPad is available in Australia for a recommended retail price of AUS$629 inc GST for 16GB, AUS$759 inc GST for 32GB, AUS$879 inc GST for 64GB for Wi-Fi models and AUS$799 inc GST for 16GB, AUS$928 inc GST for 32GB and AUS$1049 inc GST for 64GB for Wi-Fi + 3G models. iPad will be sold through the Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorised Resellers.

Later today I’ll be posting a best and worst of iPad applications videos, there are some standouts in both categories. Check back later today for an update to this post.

More info @ Apple Australia

The battle is certainly on for iPad customers. Vodafone and 3 have announced their data plans today, while Optus and Telstra revealed theirs weeks ago. So with so many options, which should you choose ?

It’s important to remember Apple’s iPad is not 900MHz compatible, which means that in areas covered by this spectrum, your speeds will drop, dramatically (3G to 2G if you like). Coverage is definitely a key consideration when choosing your provider, being connected while away from home is after all the reason you’d opt for the 3G version of the iPad in the first place. The 3G + WiFi model comes at a higher cost, so you’d want to make sure that pays off in being connected more often. It’s not enough that your just connected, rather that your connected at a speed fast enough to allow data-rich applications function correctly.

The sad truth is the current situation in Australia is that Telstra has the best coverage, but they do charge premiums for it. Optus is investing heavily in catching up in coverage, while the success of the iPhone and high data usage has meant metro areas suffer from issues. The other two providers Voda and 3 try to catch up with partnering deals, but have to offer lower cost deals to compensate for less coverage.

Telstra iPad pre-paid plans [more info]

Notes: Unused data expires after 30 days.

Optus iPad pre-paid / post-paid plans [more info]

Data	Cost
2GB	$20 per month
3GB	$30 per month
8GB	$60 per month

Three iPad pre-paid /post-paid plans [more info]

Vodafone iPad pre-paid plans [more info]

Notes: Unused data will rollover if recharged before the 30 days expire.

Which deal is best for you ?
The answer to this question is very location specific. If you only intend on using your iPad in a major city, coverage isn’t really a concern, if you want to use it while travelling, then check coverage maps. As for the amount of data you’ll need, it’s to remember that both uploading and downloading data counts as data usage.

Light users
1GB for $14.95 on Vodafone is great value for money. Whilst certainly not the cheapest entry point, I think 1GB should be plenty of data for most users. the 250MB Vodafone plan is only a quarter of the data, but only saves $5 a month.

Medium users
The entry level 3GB for $30 plan on Optus is a nice mid-point.

Heavy users
If your want Unlimited data use, Vodafone’s unlimited $49.95 plan is what you want.

If you haven’t selected your iPad 3G+Wifi model yet, check that out at the Apple site.

Apple are about to open yet another retail store in Australia. This time it’s Bondi’s turn to get some genius’. Opening this Friday, 28th May at 8:00am, this co-insides with the iPad release in Australia.

More @ Apple via MacTalk

Those selling US iTunes gift cards on eBay, your market just dried up,

Ahead of WWDC on the 7-11 of June, Apple is nearing the competition of the latest iPhone firmware. In this 4th beta we see a more refined, faster OS which is in line with expectations at this stage of development. Beta 4 brings a number of changes from what we seen in beta 3. More info soon.

My experiences are detailed after spending around 6 weeks with the 16GB Wi-Fi version of the iPad.

The iPad is a very interesting device, allowing people to consume and create content in a new way – direct multiple-touch input. The iPad is supposed to be a ‘new category’ however in my experience, it’s replaced 90% of the things I use a laptop for.

Whether it’s flipping between IM, Facebook and Twitter on the couch while watching TV, or taking notes in a meeting, there’s a mountain of reasons to love the iPad.

Touchscreen
The iPads 9.7" inch multi-touch screen produces amazing viewing angles and responsiveness. I’m not going to lie, fingerprints are an issue, something that can be overcome by increasing brightness, but that’ll hurt battery life. The lowest brightness setting in my opinion is still too bright for viewing comfortably in a dark room.

Many people feared just how useable an on-screen keyboard would be. In my experience, the answer is very! In landscape mode I can actually touch-type on the device with a fairly high rate of accuracy. The only downside is Apple’s crazy auto-correct, which helps 95% of the time, but will leave u wanting to throw the iPad the other 5%.

A travellers new best friend
I found travelling with the iPad a great experience. While travelling around the US I spent a number of hours in the bus between cities. The iPad really helped fill in the time, playing games, browsing photos or writing posts, it worked great. Then there was the 14 hour flight home from San Francisco to Sydney, I can’t speak highly enough of a device that gets the battery life of the iPad. I spent the trip using the iPad for around 7 hours, sleeping for 4 hours and watched a movie for 2.5 hrs. My only wish is that transport of the future all has Wi-Fi.

Then there’s things like cars, trains and trams. I’ve tested the iPad in cars and can confirm it works great, your probably going to want a case with stand though. I find typing on the landscape keyboard fast and can be pretty accurate, even in bumpy conditions.

Usable by all ages
I’ve been amazed to watch how people from all walks of life use the device when touching it for the first time. From my very non-tech-savvy 61yo father, to my gorgeous 2yo niece, to complete strangers enquiring about the device, they all "get it" almost instantly. With essentially no instruction most users can successfully navigate around the device. That’s amazing, when considering the complexities typically associated with an online device.

There are some apps that use a non-standard UI, these could benefit from a help guide to smooth the learning curve. Also Apple user interface guidelines seem to be ignored in a lot of cases to applications detriment.

Reading
One of the key uses for the iPad is reading, on a device that’s around the size of an A4 page. I’ve not noticed any eye strain from reading or using the device, even for extended periods of time. The iPad is however 2 heavy to hold comfortably for long periods of time, especially single handed.

Apps
Due to the limited applications that come on the device, the iPad lives and dies by 3rd party apps. To be frank, right now the app selection is kind of limited. Most categories have a decent number to choose from, but the quality of the iPad apps varies, a lot. It’s been said many times before, competition drives innovation and were simply not far enough into the development cycle for serious competition to emerge to drive that innovation.

Naturally some apps are strong out of the gate, but I’m talking across the board. Maybe we’ve just been spoilt with the 2 years of iPhone app development.

Right now the standout 3rd apps are for me are Scrabble, Pinball HD, Epicurious and Air Hockey. These each offer a unique experience unavailable anywhere else.

Naturally the photo app from Apple is awesome, but the calendar leaves a lot to be desired. Im also puzzled as to why we haven’t yet seen additional apps like Remote for the iPad from Apple, and an Apple TV remote, you’d think these could be a selling point for the device.

Flash
Adobe and Apple’s longstanding, now very public feud over Flash on Apple’s mobile products simply hurts consumers. Regardless of the arguments offered from each side, when you come across flash content and you can’t view it, it really breaks the experience. There’s been times where I’ve had to fire up my laptop just to view that one piece of content, this leaves me wondering why I don’t just use the laptop in the first place. Then of course I remember the noise, heat and weight of a laptop.

So while it may be fine to say you don’t need flash when your browsing casually, when your actually trying to get work done and you can’t reach the content you need to, its a serious problem.

If flash doesn’t run well, I would have much rather Apple worked with Adobe to ensure that it does, rather than simply saying no. Like I said, this just hurts consumers. Apple’s claim that the iPad is the best way to experience the web, isn’t true for this one single reason.

Overall
Personally I love the iPad, it’s a great device that fits a number of use cases – streaming live audio/video while doing tasks around the home, browsing the web while watching TV, taking notes in meetings to mention a few. Does this mean I think everyone needs one? Not at all.

It is a device that’s new, unique and one of the hottest tech products on the market, but most people already have laptops at this point that work perfectly fine. It is also A$628 + for the iPad, which is reasonable, but normal people have kids, mortgages and bills to pay.

What will be interesting is when it comes time to update that laptop, the iPad maybe a viable alternative for a lot of people, but then again, hopefully there’s some.

2x iPads being used to DJ