You know what's annoying, yet worthy of a prize with Apple? The fact that, once you get some piece of hardware from them, you simply can't stay away from their services. Paid services, in most cases, obviously. Well, this should be a lesson for those into hardware manufacturing who complain about low profits, and the App Store is the best example to point out in this discussion.

"Applications designed for iPhone are nothing short of amazing. That’s because they leverage the groundbreaking technology in iPhone — like the Multi-Touch interface, the accelerometer, GPS, real-time 3D graphics, and 3D positional audio. Just tap into the App Store and choose from thousands of applications ready to download now." This is how money are being made the smart way, my friends!

Just think about these facts - in early December, 2008, Apple claimed that the App Store download counter already surpassed the 300 million downloads mark, and now, after 40 days of App Store download mania, at a double average rate than before, iPhone and iPod users sucking out almost 5 million downloads a day helped reach half a billion downloads!

Yeah, you got that right - we're talking about no less than 500 million downloads made from App Store, with over 15,000 different apps available for download. A-ma-ziiiing! >:)

First of all, a little alert - if you're one of those sad creatures who behave like a vampire facing a cross when hearing about iPhone jailbreaking, then this article is not for you! Now, for the rest of us, here's the story...

As you probably know already, WinPwn is a popular iPhone unlocking and jailbreaking tool for Windows, able to run on both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows Vista, as well as Windows XP. If you want to know more about it, you can pay a visit to the official WinPwn webpage, but Jailbird is expected to replace this one pretty soon, and that's our main target today.

Just as a side note, the official page of the upcoming Jailbird software looks much better than the one belonging to WinPwn, so I hope the program will do exactly the same. A FAQ has just been published on the Jailbird Web site, so I am spreading the news:

"Q: Can I jailbreak my iPod Touch 2G with Jailbird?
A: If the ability is there to do it, it will be built into Jailbird, but as of right now…this second…no you can not

Q: Where can I download Jailbird?
A: You cant yet, I haven’t released it yet.

Q: Can I beta test super amazing spectacular (did I mention super cool) program?
A: A form will be created for you to sign up to be a beta tester, beta testers will then be narrowed down programatically, then hand selected by myself (difrnt)

Q: When will Jailbird be released?
A: I am hoping to have the beta ready for beta testers by the end of the month (January 31), and release a stable version to the public sometime in February, however no promises are being made at this time and NO dates are set in stone."

Wow, that's cool! Especially if we think about these guys and the fact they have no support from Apple - obviously - that's not a bad schedule. Anyway, I only wish for one thing to happen - when the Jailbird will spread its wings, it should also include support for jailbreaking the iPod Touch 2G, but that's something we should live to see...

If you would like to get a dog, and the choices would be a Chihuahua for a certain(rather small) price, and a Husky for free, what would you choose? Of course, there's a little problem with Huskies - they are so smart, that if you offend them somehow, they'll file a lawsuit against you, but as far as I know - and as I had the pleasure to play (and even chat;)) with a few of them, for me the choice is straightforward. Even more, most Chihuahua I encountered were simply stupid, but let's get to our apples now, shall we?

So, we have to talk about some Apple-related stuff here, right? As far as I know, most dogs don't eat apples, but that's not a problem; what about being able to have your own virtual dog on the iPhone? That's better, I guess, at least for those who are into such things. Speaking for myself, these "Tamagochi-style" games/apps are nothing but a waste of time and resources, for both the ones creating them and those using/buying them.

OK, OK - don't get me wrong - if you have money and time to throw away, here's what to do... First, you could go ahead and try the Husky puppy app, freely available on the App Store. Still didn't get enough? Good, then go ahead and pay $0.99 for the iPuppy 3D Pet, so you will create a virtual pet on your iPhone!

That's it for me, but please spare a few seconds to drop your comments below - am I wrong, or is this whole thing wrong? I ask you because a few years ago I was sure that Solitaire is a pure waste of time. Now, I know there are plenty of things a few times more useless than that...

Steve Jobs, health, 2009, these are the main keywords of today's press. I am not only talking about Apple-related sites, as you would be amazed to see the story published virtually everywhere around the world(well, maybe except North Korea and a few more "cellar countries"). I was amazed by such news already, when I found myself browsing various online newspapers from Europe, expecting to see some political and economic mumbo-jumbo, so let's see the email sent by Jobs to the Apple team on Wednesday, shall we?

"Team,

I am sure all of you saw my letter last week sharing something very personal with the Apple community. Unfortunately, the curiosity over my personal health continues to be a distraction not only for me and my family, but everyone else at Apple as well. In addition, during the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought.

In order to take myself out of the limelight and focus on my health, and to allow everyone at Apple to focus on delivering extraordinary products, I have decided to take a medical leave of absence until the end of June.

I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for Apple's day to day operations, and I know he and the rest of the executive management team will do a great job. As CEO, I plan to remain involved in major strategic decisions while I am out. Our board of directors fully supports this plan.
I look forward to seeing all of you this summer.

Steve"

The good news - or at least rumors - say that "Two people who are familiar with Mr. Jobs's current medical treatment said he was not suffering from a recurrence of cancer, but a condition that was preventing his body from absorbing food. Doctors have also advised him to cut down on stress, which may be making the problem worse, these people said."(via The New York Times)

As expected, the Apple share price went down after all this became public, and if now we saw a 10-12% drop, I don't even want to dare thinking about how large could that number become if something bad would happen to Mr. Jobs. Anyway, I am sure he'll get over it and get back to Apple this summer in full shape!

A few months after the iPhone and iPod Touch reached 2nd generation, the media application from Orb Networks known as OrbLive just got updated to reach its own version 2.0. OrbLive is all about accessing media located on a certain device via others you may have, for example running a video on your computer and broadcasting it to your Xbox, your father's smartphone, and your sister's digital photo frame.

The latest version of the software comes with the ability to record live media, so live TV or Internet content can be easily put aside for later viewing, and text search allows now an easier way to find shows or stations. That's not all, since there are also new options available for easier favorites management, while playback enhancements now allow you to navigate inside any file, as well as use a zoom-in function to get a closer look at particular content(just be sure you're alone when you're zooming on...we-know-what, ha-ha-ha-ha!).

Available via the App Store for $10, OrbLive 2.0 can also be taken for a free ride, offering a trial version limited to playing only three random titles from each media type.

The last and sad part of the story is that, for now, the service requires a PC, but support for Linux and Mac is on the way. After all, it would be extremely ridiculous to have an app for the iPod and iPhone only compatible with PCs, don't you think?