If you are one of the one’s that have such high hopes on the up and coming SDK, might want to re-think it a little.  We might all be in for a big disappointment!  

While these are just rumors, the folks over at iLounge  have a lot of confidence in their sources. iLounge stated today that the up and coming SDK event on March 6th, will leave many people disappointed.
According to iLounge, All apps will need to be 1st approved by Apple and then and only then can the apps be sold. Here is another snag in the system. Once approved, it is said that iTunes will be the only place to get said apps.
What a shocker! This is really something that boils my noodle.
Oh yeah, one more thing. It also seems that Apple intends to cut of development of dock connected accessories. This heats me up more than anything. As you all may know, I am a firm supporter of the Touchmods team and their wonderfully crafted mic. That is really bad if this does come true because I would really like to see that company move forward with their developments.

UPDATE:
Now it seems that new rumors are flying that oppose the above comments.
Electronica states

sources which have since been confirmed as accurate — the new contact claims that free applications are not subject to the same rules that will guide paid software downloads. In this model, free software is unlikely to be subject to much if any scrutiny by Apple.

[Source] iLounge

Well, only 5days left. Let’s see where this leads.

Popularity: 37% [?]

Wow. Where did that come from? I go rest my old eyes for a few minutes and when I wake up. . . WTF? Where did that come from and how did that get there?
With Apple putting out the new MacBooks and then the 2GB iPod shuffle yesterday, I thought they were finished for the day. Well folks, it’s really here. 1.1.4 firmware is here. It seems that Apple is actually stepping up to the plate and getting ready for the SDK.
TUAW alerts us with a live report on the download and Engadget reports that it consists of mainly “Bug Fixes”. Engadget further reports that it works on a jailbroken 1.1.3 and a non jailbroken 1.1.3 also that ZiPhone works as well.

I will be trying this out myself in a couple of hours and I will report back. Enjoy.

iPhone firmware 1.1.4  (direct download)
iPod touch firmware 1.1.4 (direct download)

[Source] TUAW 
[Source] Engadget 

Popularity: 45% [?]

You may remember back in 2005 when a 22yr old hacker by the name of Jon Lech Johansen better known as “DVD Jon” brought a big stir to Apple and iTunes creating a hack that allowed iPod users to use music purchased on other sites, not just from that of iTunes. In turn he wanted to license this technology to other companies.

Now “DVD John” is at it again. While claiming that this process is completely legal, he now has new software that allows users to drag and drop iTunes music to a folder on their desktop, that can then be copied to other devices. Mobile phone and gaming devices are now on the list. It seems that NGage, cybeshot devices, and among others Windows Mobile operating system will benefit from this.

The program gets around Apple’s DRM software by replaying a song in fast-forward and taking a copy of the audio track, using a process similar to that by which a CD is ‘ripped’ - or copied - to a computer.

About a hundred songs can be converted in half an hour, doubleTwist said, although there is a 5 per cent loss of sound quality - about the same as when a CD is copied.

It seems that there will be another battle with Apple soon.  

If this is something that interests you, why don’t you check them out.  DoubleTwist 

(Thanks to Bear for sending this in) 

[Source] Read the rest of the story at TimesOnline

Popularity: 21% [?]