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Following on the heels of PodcasterGate, another App has been denied entry into Apple's iTunes App Store: Mailwrangler. The reason, according to Apple (as cited by developer Angelo DiNardi, via Daring Fireball):

… Your application duplicates the functionality of the built-in iPhone application Mail without providing sufficient differentiation or added functionality, which will lead to user confusion. …

And:

… There is also no way to edit an account once it has been added. …

The latter is a gimme, and the developer acknowledges it, though feels is a capricious enforcement. The former?

Many developers are still in an uproar over Apple's tight-fisted control of the App Store, and others are distracted by counting the huge heaps of money they're making, and Google's "open" Android Market looms on the horizon, we're left to wonder how this will shake out in the ecosystem.

Some have theorized that Apple rejected Podcaster because iTunes is a revenue stream for Apple, and they don't want any precedence set for bypassing iTunes, even for "free" podcasts. But MobileMail's Gmail functionality doesn't generate any revenue, does it? And all the calculator, weather, etc. App's already duplicate functionality, so what's going on here?

We'll take a look, after the jump...

Big Media, which pretty much makes the loons in Big Music seem reasonable, witnessed NBC have the distributive equivalent of a hissy fit last year when they pulled their content from iTunes. At issue? They wanted more control over pricing. They said they wanted lower prices. Anyone ever seen media lower prices on anything established? No. Us neither.

Apple said NBC wanted to be able to charge up to $4.99 per episode of TV, much of which was 22 min. long and had already aired "for free", and that they wanted to be able to bundle content together so, for example, if you wanted Hot Show X, you had to take Dud Show Y as well. Anyone ever seen media overcharge, re-release "Special Editions" to double dip, and raise the prices of movie downloads to DVD levels (when it costs them nothing to distribute and includes none of the bonuses typically packaged with a DVD)? Yeah. All the time.

Still want to give NBC the benefit of the doubt? Remember, one of their demands for coming back was that Apple block non-commercial content from iPods and iPhones. I.e., if you can't prove you bought your show specifically for the iPhone (no content swapping from your PVR! And no home movies!), you're a de facto pirate.

After trying all sorts of disruptive alternate markets, including giving their content ("their" in that they own it, but typically did not create, direct, produce, star, or otherwise do anything but cull and cancel it), away for free on Hulu (to people in the US, at least) along with a back-door onto the iPhone, and through other online distribution models, at Apple's September "Let's Rock" event, it was announced NBC was coming back to iTunes.

The results? Check them out after the break...

Today on the forums we have a couple of newly started threads that you should enjoy. There has been a lot of talk about jailbreaking lately with the new QuickPwn's released for both Mac and Windows. Have you given jailbreaking a try? Let us know in this thread.

iTunes 9 Ideas

WebKit, the open source foundation behind Apple's Safari for Mac and MobileSafari on the iPhone (not to mention Google Chrome, Nokia, and Adobe) introduced the SquirrelFish JavaScript engine a while back, and billed it as the fastest on the planet. Then came Mozilla's (Firefox) TraceMonkey. Then came Google's V8. But you just can't keep a good SquirrelFish down -- not when it's willing to go... Extreme!

Surfin' Safari, the WebKit blog, made the announcement this week. But what does it mean for iPhone users? Muchfasterwebsiterendering.

Ok all of you Windows peeps, this is what you have been waiting for. And no, sorry, still no unlocking for the 3G yet, but you can jailbreak the 2.1 firmware with the freshly released Windows Quickpwn 2.1!

More on Windows QuickPwn 2.1:

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blockquote>Supports 2.1 firmware with the unlocking and jailbreaking of iPhone 1st generation (2G) device. Supports the jailbreaking of iPod Touch 1st generation device and iPhone 3G. Does not support the unlocking of iPhone 3G or jailbreaking of second generation (n72ap based) iPod Touch.

UPDATE: There was a minor uproar in the iPhone developer community (yup, again!) when some felt that this patent "ripped off" Intelliscreen. Ars Technica points out, however, that this patent was originally filed before the iPhone was even jailbroken, and hence before Intelliscreen came out.

ORIGINAL:

About a month ago Dieter reported about a fairly large security flaw in firmware 2.0.2 that gave access to Safari, Email, and a frightening amount of personal data. Apple patched it in 2.1. Or did they?

This could be a flaw, or feature, but it turns out you still have the ability to make a phone call, to any number, while the iPhone is locked with a passcode. Wasn't the "emergency" call feature meant to call "emergency" numbers such as 911 only?

Apple can you please put this on your "need to fix" list? Thank you!

Adding to MobileMe issues, casing cracks, and 2.0 problems (Apple sure has a lot on their plate), it looks like the ultracompact and ultra-cute USB power adapter is being recalled.