After mucking about with so many updates for iTunes 9, Apple has finally unveiled iTunes 10 that offers an interface update and a new social network feature called Ping. Oh, and a new logo that basically ditches the CD on the logo, replacing it with a blue circle since iTunes downloads already outsells CDs in the US.
Here’s the announcement in one line: The App Inventor is a simple tool that’ll let anyone create simple mobile apps. That means anyone; including people with no programming experience. Although it should also be a given that ‘anyone’ also needs to have a computer to run it, and an Android phone for running and testing your stuff. You’re also going to need a pair of working eyes and a brain with the logical capacity to understand blocks and jigsaw puzzles as an absolute minimum—so basically, if you have the skill to get past level 5 in Tetris, or solve an easy-level Sudoku puzzle, you can do this. Probably.
Here’s something interesting for your iPad: a Scrabble app by Electronic Arts that you can play with three other friends… as long as everyone in the group owns an iPhone or iPod touch. Perfect for the Apple party (that may or may not be officially called an “iParty”) you’ve been planning for weeks now.
Got a lot of friends you need to keep in touch with? Specifically, do you need to invite, say, 25 friends to a party but you don’t want to have to press “send” to each and every one of ‘em? Check out GroupText from BrightKite. This app will let you hold a running conversation with up to 25 people at once using text messages, which should be perfect for those times when, um, you need to hold a running conversation with your entire high school class (provided that your high school class is made up of 25 people, tops).
