Apple now using Twitter to promote U.S. iBookstore

Apple is now using Twitter to promote the United States version of their iBookstore. Apple already uses Twitter to promote content for App store apps, iTunes music, TV shows, and iTunes movies. Even though the iBookstore account was created quite some time ago, Apple appears to have just started utilizing the account.

The first tweet was actually sent out just today –

Welcome to the Apple #iBookstore on Twitter. Follow us to discover new releases, exclusive book offers, and more.

The last tweet sent from the account is a link to a list of books that are quick reads at good prices. I’ve become a fan of companies using social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook to communicate with customers. If you’re an avid reader and utilize iBooks you may want to follow the account for new releases, discounts, sales, and recommended picks. Hit the link below to follow iBookstore on Twitter.

@iBookstore

AT&T And Verizon Both Release New Prepay Plans, Prepaid iPhone Coming?

One of the more nebulous rumors surrounding the next round of iPhones is that Apple might be eyeing up releasing a low-cost, prepaid iPhone to better tap international/low-cost markets. Sure, buying an iPhone might not be too expensive, but a two-year commitment at $75 or so a month ends up with you giving thousands of dollars to your carrier. Now, just weeks before we’re expecting Apple to announce a new iPhone of some description, both AT&T and Verizon have announced new prepay plans.

Verizon is planning a $50 per month href="http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110913-711153.html">unlimited talk/text/data prepay tier, allowing you unlimited use of your device for $50 — which is still href="http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/09/14/verizon_att_introduce_new_prepaid_plans_ahead_of_iphone_refresh.html">higher than some competitors, like MetroPCS’ $40 unlimited, or Sprint Boost’s $35 version (for some).

AT&T, on the other hand, is offering href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/13/atandt-announces-25-monthly-gophone-plan-beginning-september-18th/">$25 per month for 250 anytime minutes and unlimited messaging; $10 international long distance package with 250 minutes; and Canada roaming for $.39 per minute and $.25 per message sent.

Now, there’s no solid evidence that these have anything to do with a prepay iPhone, perhaps a heavily modified iPhone 4. However, the timing is nothing if not interesting, so this should at the very lest make you perk up your ears.

Turntable.fm Hits App Store

href="http://www.everythingicafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/mzl.rabgiqki.320x480-75.jpg">class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-23630" title="mzl.rabgiqki.320x480-75" src="http://www.everythingicafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/mzl.rabgiqki.320x480-75.jpg" alt="" width="320" height="480" />Social dj-ing app href="http://turntable.fm">Turntable.fm has had a website for quite some time, but the highly anticipated app version has only href="http://itunes.apple.com/app/turntable.fm-play-music-together/id460448648?mt=8">just landed in the app store. You have to login to the service via Facebook, but once inside you get a musical experience that’s unlike any other. Each room has up to five djs, who take turns choosing the next track for the entire crowd to groove on. When the music plays, listeners can vote (and if it sucks, skip it), chat, and just generally have a good time.

You can either open your room to the public, or have it set to private, where just those with a specific URL can get it — which makes it perfect for curating the music for a house party. That way plenty of people get to chose the sounds, and you just hook the rig into the speaker system.

The one downside is that you can only chose music that’s on Turntable’s servers, not from your own collection.

Sprint iPad and iPhone Ready For October Launch?

As we get closer to a possible Apple announcement the target="_blank" href="http://www.iphonealley.com/news/sprint-iphone-rumors-heating-up">Sprint iPhone rumors keep leaking. A Sprint Nextel sales associate told onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.tuaw.com/2011/09/13/sprint-begins-briefing-sales-associates-on-iphone-4-for-october/');" href="http://www.tuaw.com/2011/09/13/sprint-begins-briefing-sales-associates-on-iphone-4-for-october/">TUAW that they will be carrying the iPhone 4 and a 4G onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.ipadngravy.com');" target="_blank" title="iPad" href="http://www.ipadngravy.com">iPad in October. The tipster seemed a bit confused claiming Sprint would only be offering the iPhone 4 and not the iPhone 5. However, a TUAW reader suggested that Sprint’s training materials might not include the iPhone 5 due to secrecy. Another person wondered if the iPhone 5 is being delayed even longer than anticipated since the associate wasn’t being prepped for it.

On Wednesday, onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/9to5mac.com/2011/09/14/apples-sprint-compatible-ipad-appears-ready-and-waiting-for-launch/');" target="_blank" href="http://9to5mac.com/2011/09/14/apples-sprint-compatible-ipad-appears-ready-and-waiting-for-launch/">9to5Mac said a Sprint compatible iPad is completed and ready to launch before the holidays. Previous leaks suggested that href="http://www.iphonealley.com/news/best-buy-leaks-possible-iphone-5-release-date">Best Buy and Sprint employees are preparing to launch some kind of iPhone, but there has been no news about a Sprint capable iPad. 9to5Mac didn’t have many details, including if it would run on Sprint’s 4G WiMAX network.

The href="http://www.iphonealley.com/news/is-the-iphone-4-and-5-coming-to-sprint-in-october">Wall Street Journal, who originally broke the news about a Sprint iPhone, did say the carrier would be offering the iPhone 4 and possibly iPhone 5.

Asphalt 6 Goes Free For A Limited Time

href="http://www.everythingicafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/mzl.drkjtfju.480x480-75.jpg">class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-23633" title="mzl.drkjtfju.480x480-75" src="http://www.everythingicafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/mzl.drkjtfju.480x480-75.jpg" alt="" width="480" height="360" />The most recent entry in Gameloft’s ultrapopular street-racing game — Asphalt 6 — has gone free for a limited time. Available in both href="http://itunes.apple.com/app/asphalt-6-adrenaline-hd/id400975931?mt=8">iPad and href="http://itunes.apple.com/app/asphalt-6-adrenaline/id400973408?mt=8">iPhone, Gameloft has made the app free, but we don’t know how long it’ll last for. While hardly a new title — it debuted in December of last year — Asphalt 6: Adrenaline is part of the large genre of street-racing games that enjoy destruction as much as speed.

Borrowing heavily from the Need for Speed franchise, the Asphalt games have a large number of cars and tracks, and a wide variety of different game modes, sure to meet any needs. And from what I remember from Asphalt 5, the cop levels are bizarrely harder than any of the others.

 

iMessage To Come To iChat?

One of the features in iOS 5 that we’re really looking forward to is iMessage, an Apple supported free messaging service between iPhone users. Frankly, anything that kills of SMS seems a good thing right about now. New href="http://www.macrumors.com/2011/09/14/apple-is-building-imessage-into-os-x-lions-ichat/">information uncovered by MacRumors shows that iMessages might be extending their reach, and could be combined with iChat on Mac OS X in the near future.

In the framework for iChat in Lion are the following properties:

@interface IMMessage : NSObject/> {/> IMHandle *_sender;/> IMHandle *_subject;/> NSAttributedString *_text;/> NSString *_plainBody;/> NSDate *_time;/> NSDate *_timeDelivered;/> NSDate *_timeRead;

Those two in bold are both new, and both unsupported by any of iChat’s protocols, but are present in iMessage.

Hopefully this means we’ll be able to easily and instantly message from iPhone to computer and back again using native Apple apps.

Rumor: Physical Home Button For iPhone 5

href="http://www.everythingicafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/iphone-5-home-button.jpeg">class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-23636" title="iphone-5-home-button" src="http://www.everythingicafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/iphone-5-home-button.jpeg" alt="" width="360" height="360" />href="http://www.cultofmac.com/is-this-the-iphone-5s-home-button-we-hope-not/113440">Cult of Mac has unearthed this small piece of kit from a href="http://www.sz-china-better.com/itemQuery_15357_pucker.html_15357:iPhone%205%20Parts.html">Chinese seller, which is claimed to be a home-button for the iPhone 5. So, why is this important? Because one of the endearing rumors is that the iPhone 5 will have a capacitive touch home button, rather than a physical one. Your current iPhone has a physical button, and so to is the one pictured above, but a bunch of people think that it might be instead a little sensor that detects your finger.

I’m a much bigger fan of physical buttons over capacitive, as they tend to handle real-world situations much better, but even so I’m not sure about this information. For one, the parts labelled as “iPhone 5″ look very similar to those of the iPhone 4 — which could either mean they’re mislabeled, or else that these are for an iPhone 4S type device that’s physically very similar to the current iPhone. Which in turn means that there could still be a capacitive button on the iPhone 5.

Though I’d still prefer a physical one, just from my own experience.