Apple Lifts Restrictions for free audio books App Approvals

In an about-face, Apple announced Thursday that it would change some of the strict and perplexing rules for developers creating content for the iTunes App Store.

It is unclear why Apple abruptly decided to change the guidelines.

In a news release posted on the company’s Web site, Apple said it is “relaxing all restrictions on the development tools used to create iOS apps, as long as the resulting apps do not download any code.” This means app developers will be able to use third-party tools to create applications for the iOS platform, something Apple has steadfastly denied in the past. PCSpeed.net

Are the British better writers than Americans?

While it’s folly to generalize about the literature of an entire nation, I think British novelists tend to be more ironic, and I like irony. I enjoy the suspicion that a writer may be pulling my leg. The British are also good at wit—the art of “thinking in fun while feeling in earnest,” as J.B. Priestley put it. American wit sometimes seems like what Mr. Priestley described as “men sitting on pats of butter or smelly cheeses.” PC Speed

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Writing a No. 1 best-seller books and audiobooks is tough even for a president

Already in distinctive company as an American president, George W. Bush seeks to join an even more select group: president and top-selling author of books and audiobooks

Since The New York Times began its weekly lists of best-sellers in 1942, only six of the 13 men who have served as the nation’s chief executive have placed a book at the top spot for nonfiction, none while president.  LA Times

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Apple Users Download 35 Million Books

Apple CEO Steve Jobs said that iTunes users had downloaded 35 million books  and audiobook on iTunes and is now launching iTunes 10.

Tech blog GDGT quoted Jobs as saying: “People have downloaded over 11.7 billion songs from iTunes, and we’re just about to cross 12b. Over 450 million TV episodes, 100 million movies, 35 million books, and over 160 million accounts with credit cards and 1-click shopping in 23 countries.”   Media Bistro

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Some ways to get anti-social on networks

The age of social media has made it easier than ever to stay connected with the people you know, but it has also made it almost inevitable that users will come to feel overwhelmed by interruptions, updates and status reports. So now, the technology that turned people into 24/7 communicators has spawned a tool kit that discreetly lets users be just a tad antisocial on their own networks. Washington Post

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Washington Post Suspends Columnist for Twitter Hoax

On Monday morning, Mike Wise, a sports columnist at The Washington Post, published to his Twitter account that the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger would be suspended for five games.

Now Mr. Wise himself is suspended.

The information Mr. Wise published about Mr. Roethlisberger was made up — a test, he said, of how fast a piece of misinformation could spread online. (Mr. Roethlisberger was suspended for six games, not five, after he was accused of sexual assault in March, and the N.F.L. is considering whether to reduce the suspension.) Mr. Wise followed his initial post about the quarterback with three others about his sourcing for the news. And by the end of the day, the paper had suspended him for a month.  N Y Times

Twitter is killing support for basic user authentication in third-party apps

Tuesday morning, the company says. Instead, Twitter will now require all third-party app developers to use OAuth for user authentication.

This is a planned move Twitter first announced in December, and the company has posted a help page on its developer site with some resources meant to ease the transition to OAuth.

The Twitter API team has been dialing down the number of requests an app can make using the basic authorization method. That number will hit zero at 8AM Pacific time Tuesday.

How to react when Social Media Attacks Your Brand

Social media disasters occur for a number of reasons, the first being that your company probably messed up. It may not have been intentional, but something, somewhere down the line, went wrong enough for someone to complain and it was enough for others to vocalize that complaint en masse. One mistake is all it takes for social media to turn against your brand.

Scammers hit Twitter and Facebook

Facebook and Twitter users are complaining about their accounts being compromised and then being used to spam friends with suspicious “free iPad offers.”

Twitterwarned users of the scam, Wednesday, saying that it was resetting passwords of affected users. “If you’ve received a message promising you a new iPad, not only is there no iPad, but also your friends have been hacked,” Twitter said   Reuters

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Get some outside help from a P.R. firm

I’ve changed my mind. I think it’s time we get some outside help from a P.R. firm that knows how to promote our brand. I need to stop trying to do everything myself and start surrounding myself with experienced professionals. I have had several discussions with my business adviser to make sure that I find the right firm for our company.  NY Times

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