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Release Date: August 05, 2009
Genre: Games
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iTunes New Music Releases

Release Date: September 29, 2009
Genre: Rock
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Genre: Rock
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Release Date: April 22, 2009
StickWars $0.99
Release Date: March 31, 2009
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Bloons $0.99
Release Date: April 05, 2009
Genre: Games

Discover New Music

  • Pretty Hate Machine

    • 8 out of 10
    • Nine Inch Nails
    • For years I wanted to make music that sounded like something between Love and Rockets and Ministry. In 1989, Trent Reznor beat me to it with this genre-defining album, and it smacked me upside the hea
  • Supernature

    • 10 out of 10
    • Goldfrapp
    • On their latest CD, Supernature, Goldfrapp has put together a successful mix of 1980-era New Romanticism, German cabaret, and T. Rex glam that leaves you riveted even through the album's lulls. It's a great amalgam that sounds current without sounding at all dated.

  • Trouble

    • 8 out of 10
    • Ray LaMontagne
    • At first, Ray LaMontagne might strike you as just another breathy-voiced knockoff of folk/rock guitarists like John Mayer and Jack Johnson. But he's actually got a better voice than either, he tell

  • King James Version

    • 4 out of 10
    • Harvey Danger
    • The sophomore effort from Harvey Danger, I was really looking forward to this followup to "Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?" Unfortunately, "King James Version" failed to deliver any of the bri

  • Another Day on Earth

    • 10 out of 10
    • Brian Eno
    • In his first proper solo release since 1996's relatively cold "The Drop," Brian Eno has constructed a whimsical and ecclectic masterpiece which is arguably one of the year's strongest records thus fa

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News

Exploring Apple’s iPhone App Kill Mechanism

An iPhone forensics expert has discovered that Apple has apparently installed a mechanism to remotely kill an iPhone app if necessary. However, public knowledge of scope of the technology is scant, according to Tom Krazit at CNET on Thursday.

On Wednesday, iPhone Atlas pointed to Jonathan Zdziarski’s findings that the iPhone routinely checks a website to apparently check for a list of unauthorized applications.

The conclusion by Mr. Zdziarski, an iPhone forensics expert, was that Apple could remotely terminate an app, even if an Apple customer had paid for the app.

The problem, according to Mr. Krazit is that no one has any real insight into when or how this facility would be invoked. It could simply be away for Apple to revoke apps that are subsequently found to be malicious or have grave security weaknesses. It could also be a way for enterprise customers to control what applications are installed. [However, that would require multiple Websites on a per company basis, presumably, not just one.]

Apple’s tight-fisted policy, according to Mr. Krazit, is annoying some developers who are more accustomed to direct control of their apps, and some could certainly strike out on their own with apps for jailbroken phones. However, in the meantime, no one knows much about details of this mechanism or the circumstances under which Apple would use it.

In a related story, the infamous "I am Rich" iPhone app has apparently been removed from the App Store. It’s not clear whether the author or Apple withdrew the app. If it has been withdrawn for good, it may be the first time in the history of Apple software that a legitimate, harmless application has been withdrawn from the market due to a public embarrassment.

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