Now that you've got an NPR-lovin' stereo in your bedroom, the only thing missing in your otherwise completely fulfilled life is an NPR application that enables you to listen to your favorite programs whenever, wherever. If we just rung your bell, you can now drift away and die happy. Available this very moment in the 100,000-strong App Store is the Public Radio App, which essentially acts as a DVR for the iconic station. Once fired up, the app can "pause and rewind public radio streams from NPR, PRI, APM and local public radio stations," and there's even an alarm clock setting that wakes you up with your favorite public radio stream. Unfortunately, on-demand streaming is still a pipe dream, but there's nothing to stop these guys from adding that very feature in the next iteration. Go on -- try and lay off the trigger. It's not like that awfully low $2.99 price point is tempting or anything.

Look, App Store, we just wanted to take this opportunity to say we're sorry about all the fart app jokes. We know it's not easy being a new App Store, making your way in the world, and when juxtaposed against the struggles your competition has had with putting together a compelling app gathering, we know now that our words in those early days were hurtful and lacking in understanding. With 100,000 apps in your store and over two billion downloads, we hope you can be the bigger man here and forgive us. Also, if you have any tips for improving our Canabalt score that would be much appreciated. Thanks.

The iPhone App Store's arbitrary and inconsistent approval process continues to baffle and annoy on every level, as Macworld Editor-in-Chief Jason Snell just had his iPhone book rejected... for using the word "iPhone" in the title. Apparently Apple doesn't like app names or icons to include the word iPhone or images of the iPhone -- which arguably makes sense on some level -- but you'd think a freaking iPhone reference manual would warrant an exception, wouldn't you? Making matters worse, it appears that one Mr. David Pogue didn't have this problem, as his iPhone: The Missing Manual was approved with title and icon intact. Sigh. Phil Schiller -- deploy!

Jibbigo is a recently released iPhone app which promises to help you out the next time you're desperately trying to make yourself understood by your Spanish-speaking compadres. The app is capable of recording a sentence and translating it -- essentially in real time -- back to you. As you can see in the screencap above, you can speak either Spanish or English, and the translator will do its work, displaying both your original and a translation into the other language. The dictionary contains about 40,000 words, and the app is aimed at travelers. Jibbigo also requires the iPhone 3GS to make use of the bi-directional translation tools, and the app also reportedly functions a heck of a lot slower on anything other than the 3G. The app is available now for $24.99.

[Via, iPodnn]

One of Apple's many curious restrictions on iPhone apps has now been lifted. It used to be that, in order for developers to have microtransactions / in-app purchases, they had to charge something upfront for the software, essentially requiring consumers to pay at least twice, or not at all. Well, all that's changed, as the company has sent word to its developer community that the restriction has been lifted, meaning those annoying "Lite" and "Full" versions cluttering the app store can now be one and the same, with folks downloading the demo and paying to upgrade from within the app itself, a model that's worked to success in other software ecosystems like Xbox Live. Sure, there's gonna be developers out there that abuse the newly-minted business model, but it's not like anything was stopping them before when they charged $2 upfront only to get you again later. The mass email announcement is reprinted after the break. [Warning: read link requires iPhone developer account]

[Via Daring Fireball]

Believe it or not, a device-controlled car isn't exactly fresh. In fact, we've actually seen a PSP control a Civic before Barack Obama was even a glimmer in the media's eye. That said, we're always willing to give credit where it's due, and the iDriver app just might be the most impressive use of Apple's smartphone... well, ever. As the name implies, this here app is able to control a heavily wired vehicle seemingly with ease -- the accelerometer handles the steering, and two soft buttons on the screen handle braking and acceleration. We'd bother explaining more, but we know you've already clicked past the break to see the whole thing demonstrated on video. Right?

[Via Engadget German]

Among the many minor changes included in the 3.0 release of the iPhone OS was one that would enable those myriad of iPhone accessories to work more closely with software. That is to say, to make the plugging in of one result in in a prompting to download the other. The first such piece of hardware is the latest Griffin iTrip, which, when connected, raises the dialog shown above. You can of course say "No" if you don't feel like playing along, but when it comes to accessories like the TomTom car kit we're thinking you'll probably be missing out if you don't go along with the flow.

[Via AppleInsider]

Apple might be talking a big game about how it's revising the App Store approval process with an oversight board and trotting out Phil Schiller to do damage control at opportune moments, but the process itself is still generating inconsistent and maddening results -- like today's rejection of an app advocating for healthcare reform called iSinglePayer, which was rejected for being "politically charged." Yeah, that's insane, especially since the app just consists of healthcare spending information and a GPS-driven lookup tool for local Congress members and how much money they've received in health-sector donations. Say what you want about the political motivations of the app, but that's a fairly benign set of functions, and it's one that's been echoed by political apps on both sides of the aisle since the launch of the App Store. So why this rejection, and why now, when apps with names like "Conservative Talking Points" have been approved? And honestly, how is it even possible anyone at Apple is dumb enough to reject this without anticipating the firestorm of controversy it would cause? Who knows anymore -- we have a feeling ol' Phil's about to earn his paycheck explaining this one.

[Via Daring Fireball]

Surprise, surprise -- the App Store's reached yet another wild milestone, hitting a whopping two billion downloads since its inception a little over a year ago. It took a little under three months to get from one billion to 1.5 billion downloads and a hair over two months to get from 1.5 to two, so the pace is accelerating just a bit -- a function both of total iPhones / iPod touches in circulation and of the ever-increasing size of the App Store's catalog, which now stands at over 85,000. The most interesting stat here might be the fact that there are actually more than 125,000 developers enrolled in Apple's iPhone dev program, meaning there are at least 40,000 devs out there who need to feel the crack of the whip (or, like some of us, just want access to beta firmware).

Calculators were the original handheld computers, but unlike the whole PDA fad, they've had amazing staying power through their 40-year history -- to this day, buttoned-up dudes crunching numbers at wooden desks have HP 12Cs next to them not for the kitschy retro street cred, but because they're functional, familiar, and do exactly what they're expected to do. Thing is, even purpose-suited perfection can only carry a product for so many years; eventually, raw technology and a new generation of users with different expectations are going to conspire to tear down the status quo. HP was the first giant to recognize that it might be a good idea to have virtual versions of its products available for a more modern medium, porting the 12C and 15C to the iPhone; now, TI -- HP's archrival in the calculator business for decades -- is doing the same by offering its BAII Plus as a $14.99 download from the App Store. That's exactly the same price as the 12C, so come on, you HP and TI diehards -- duke it out and tell us which brand makes the better adding machine once and for all, won't you?

Oh, brother. TomTom just hit us up with the real details on its iPhone car kit slip this morning, and we've got a feeling you won't like what it has to say. It confessed that the posting was indeed a mistake, and thus, the pricing was also incorrect. If you'll recall (c'mon, it wasn't that long ago), the Apple store listing explained that the £99.99 car kit included the iPhone app, when in reality, that price definitely does not include the app. Jump on past the break for TomTom's official statement, which now curiously states that the "iPhone 2G" will be compatible with the car kit, yet doesn't mention the iPod touch at all.

This time last year, you might have thought that LiMo was waning in the shadow of Android's eminence, but we're witnessing the vanguard of a new resurgence in the form of the Vodafone 360 H1 and M1 handsets by Samsung. Being the first LiMo Release 2 devices, they'll come with a bagful of fancy 3D UI visualizations to splash atop 3.5- and 3.2-inch touchscreen displays, with the bigger H1 (pictured) getting the AMOLED treatment, WiFi, HSDPA and 16GB of internal memory, and the M1 receiving HSDPA and 1GB of expandable memory, but no WiFi. They are making their debut alongside Vodafone's new 360 online platform, which takes over from the former Live service. You can expect it to bring Facebook, Twitter, Windows Live Messenger and Google Talk integration, as well as an app store to compete with the other heavy hitters. The M1's three color options are pictured after the break.

Read - Vodafone 360 press release
Read - Vodafone 360 H1 product page
Read - Vodafone 360 H1 hands-on
Read - Vodafone 360 M1 product page

It was always curious that Google's response to the FCC inquiry about Google Voice and the App Store had been redacted, but now we're starting to see why -- El Goog and the FCC have just released the full text of the letter, and it flatly contradicts Apple's take on the matter. If you'll remember, Apple claimed that while Google Voice hadn't been approved, it also hadn't been rejected, and that its status was in limbo while the folks in Cupertino "studied" the matter. Not so, says El Goog: according to its letter, Phil Schiller himself told Google that GV had been rejected on July 7 for duplication of functionality, following a similar conversation on April 10th during which Schiller rejected Google Latitude in part because it might "offer new features not present on the preloaded maps application." Yeah, that's a huge discrepancy, and it makes Apple's version seem even more divorced from reality that it already is. Things are starting to heat up -- we'll see what the FCC makes of all this.

Update: And here we go -- Apple just pinged us to say the following: "We do not agree with all of the statements made by Google in their FCC letter. Apple has not rejected the Google Voice application and we continue to discuss it with Google."

Update 2: So we've been thinking about it, and here's our question -- if Apple didn't reject GV, and is still studying it, what exactly did Phil Schiller say to Google to make them think it had been rejected? The difference between "rejected" and "on hold pending further discussion" isn't a subtle one, and Google clearly thought GV had been explicitly rejected. For whatever it's worth, reports of GV's "rejection" are how this whole mess got started, so either this is all one huge misunderstanding, or someone here isn't telling the entire truth.

Read - Google unredacted FCC filing [Warning: PDF]
Read - Google Public Policy Blog explaining decision to release letter