Just like the Barnes & Noble iPad app that we talked about previously, an Amazon Kindle app that is specifically made and formatted for the iPad is also on the way. The folks over at the New York Times were able to get a look at it, and it sounds fairly similar to what we saw from Apple with their iBooks app. You can control the speed of a page turn with your finger, and it has a couple of new ways for people to view their entire eBook library. One of those, above, shows books covers with a background of someone reading a book under a tree. The position of the sun in the background changes depending on the time of day, which is fairly cool.

We find the whole things with both B&N and Amazon rushing to get their eBook reader apps ready for the iPad to be very interesting. In a nutshell, the iPad is now the only mobile device that will let you read eBooks purchased from Apple, Amazon, or Barnes & Noble. All the other devices are tied to one store. Between the eBook stores, and apps like Instapaper, the iPad is prepped to be the most feature-rich eBook reader on the planet, and that doesn’t even take any of its other features into account.

Read More | NYT

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The Directors Bureau of Applications, the creators of Can Moo, Say it! and The Song Idea Generator has released its Secret Contacts app, moving from the realm of cute but useless apps and leaping headfirst into the douche-canal of misanthrope-enabling apps.  Secret Contacts a way for you to hide your little black book from prying eyes—your girlfriend/wife/overbearing pet—in an app that masquerades as an innocuous little tip-calculator.  While the premise for this is a clever and sneaky little idea, the execution of its advertising—hell, the fact that they had any at all—kind of defeats the purpose.
“Yes, hide your little black book on your iPhone from prying eyes; prying eyes that, should they even know how to operate an iPhone or have even heard of the internet will surely have also heard about this app, rendering it completely moot…. wait… scratch that… damn.”  It seems to me that this is another funny idea that should have maybe stayed in the drunken post work brainstorm-session/happy-hour in which it was conceived.  If your significant other understands basic technology and is actually crazy enough to search through your contacts, then they will also have heard of this app even before you, cheeky monkey; if not, then there is really no point at all, now is there?  Why would you waste $1.99 on an app that is either rendered useless either by it’s advertising or by its lack of necessity?  Now where did I put my battery-powered battery re-charger?

Read More | Secret Contacts

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Looks like Apple isn’t the only company looking to capitalize on the iPad hype in order to sell eBooks. Barnes & Noble has just made it public knowledge that they plan on releasing an iPad-optimized version of the B&N reader app, with the goal being to have it ready in the App Store on day one. We must say, we like it. In fact, this may cement the iPad as the best reader device around, because you’ve got the B&N app, the Kindle app, and of course, the Apple iBooks app as well (among others.) This means that you can purchase a book in any of those three ebook marketplaces, and read them all on your iPad. That’s something you just can’t do with a Kindle or nook. Let’s just hope that Apple doesn’t give these apps the same treatment that they’ve given to others, like Google Voice.

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We’ve been playing Street Fighter IV for iPhone and iPod touch this morning, and we must say, CAPCOM looks to have a serious hit on their hands with this one. The game exudes polish, and shows exactly what an enthusiastic iPhone OS game developer can do with graphics and play mechanics on the iPhone. If you are a fan of fighting games, or Street Fighter in particular, this is one you are going to want to grab!

Read More | App Store: Street Fighter IV

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Aura Cacia is a nationally branded Aromatherapy product provider and today has leaped dredlocked and pachouli-soaked head-first into the smartphone world with their new iPhone app. Now you can learn about the history and benefits of aromatherapy without having to worry about getting sandalwood oil all over your iPhone touch-screen.  While the app does have different factoids and bits of information regarding aromatherapy treatments and different combinations of oils, it is merely an information source and not a diagnostic tool like many other similar iPhone apps in the same arena.  Considering it is free, I guess you get what you pay for.

Read More | Aura Cacia Aromatherapy

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Okay, Capcom, you’ve definitely got our attention with the announcement that Street Fighter IV will be coming to the iPhone and iPod touch sometime next month. In fact, we are sure that iPhone gamers in general are pretty stoked to see the amount of time that Capcom put into this game in order to make it feel as close to the console versions as possible on a small touchscreen device. Truth be told, all the character models, stage backgrounds, super combos, hyper combos, and all the rest are here in full (well, if by full we mean they are all there, just scaled down.) Currently, we have both Ryu and Ken confirmed, and while Capcom isn’t giving too many more hints for now, they have said that the roster will feature a mix of older characters and the newer Street Fighter IV characters.

Control is done with an on-screen joystick on the left, and four attack buttons (two punch, two kick) on the right. You also get local multiplayer over Bluetooth, which is awesome. We will definitely be keeping our eyes on this one, and will get more information to you as soon as we have it!

Read More | IGN

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Over the weekend, SlingPlayer Mobile 1.2 was released for the iPhone, and it marks a big step for both the application, as well at AT&T and data streaming. If you are unfamiliar, SlingPlayer Mobile allows you to connect to a Slingbox, which in turn lets you watch live and recorded television right on your device. The problem in the past was that AT&T wouldn’t allow all that data on their network, so you’d have to be connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot in order to use it. Well now, with AT&T supposedly working to optimize and improve their network, they have now allowed SlingPlayer Mobile to work using their 3G connection, giving users a real way to watch TV and control their DVRs remotely, wherever they have cell or Wi-Fi connectivity. We’ve tried it out, and it’s great. We definitely recommend giving SlingPlayer Mobile a try.

Read More | SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone

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Are you addicted to Merscom’s Create a Mall? Do you find yourself enjoying this building simulator hours on end at your Mac or Windows computer? Well, now you can take it everywhere you go! Merscom and 99 games, have released this popular Mac and Windows title for the iPhone and iPod platform.

Create a Mall is a building simulator where you assume the role as Kelly, a rising star in a mall company. As Kelly, players are challenged to become world-class mall developers by filling their venues with enticing stores for customers in six different cities throughout the world. The game allows you to use the money you have earned to buy jewelry, clothing, or office decorations.

Does this sound like you kind of game? Create a Mall is now available in the App Store for $3.99. 

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The Short Version: If you donate to Haiti relief by SMS by texting “HAITI” to the number 90999, or by texting “YELE” to 501501, we will match your donation multiple times. Just leave a comment telling us how much you donated, and we will take care of the rest. We are currently matching donations 14 times.

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Over the past couple of days, while trying to carry on with “business as usual,” I’ve personally found it hard to focus on tech, gadgets, and all of the CES 2010 goodness that we have yet to bring you, as the world is focused on the disastrous aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti. We’re sure you’ve seen the imagery, but if you haven’t, or if you aren’t quite sure, I encourage you to watch this AP report:

Gear Live & Friends Will Match Your Haiti SMS Donations!
We felt it was time to do our part to help, so with the support of a bunch of Gear Live friends, we are announcing that we will match SMS donations made by Gear Live readers and viewers. As many of you know, the Red Cross has made it super-simple to donate $10 to help out by simply texting the word HAITI to 90999. In fact, this has been so successful that it’s already earned $11 million in just a few days. That is fantastic - but the damage to the country is far greater than that, and every little bit helps. So here’s what we’re gonna do:

Starting now, if you send an SMS donation to either the Red Cross (by texting the word HAITI to 90999) or to YELE (by texting the word YELE to 501501) Gear Live will match it, up to $500. In addition, we have a bunch of our friends joining in as well:

• David Geller of Eyejot and WhatCounts will match up to $2500
• Leslie Camacho, President of EllisLab (which makes the fantastic ExpressionEngine CMS) and Roger Rustad (wondering network guru) will personally match up to $600 $1200
• Nate True of Tap Tap Revenge and iPhone hacking fame will match up to $500
• Jeremy, Adam, and the team at Stage Two will match up to $500
• Dave Taylor, the man behind AskDaveTaylor.com, will match up to $250
• Don McAllister of Screencasts Online will match up to $250
• Robert Scoble, the face behind Building43, will match up to $200
• Local Gear Live fan Shauna Causey will match up to $100
• Parnassus Ventures, the folks behind 140: The Twitter Conference, will match up to $100
• Jason Neudecker, a Gear Live Twitter follower, will match up to $100
• Hadley Stern and Apple Matters will match up to $100
• Xavier Lanier and Notebooks.com will match up to $100
• Amisha Gandhi-Lanier and Served Raw will match up to $100
• Kevin Urie from Social Media Club Seattle will match up to $100
• TechieDiva.com will match up to $50
• Eric Siegfriend and DanceHop will match up to $50

In total, so far, that’s

$4500 $5400 $5650 $6550 $6700 in pledged matching donations! For each donation you make, each entity above will match it, until their limit is reached. In other words, with our current eight eleven twelve contributors, your $10 donation will actually be matched six nine eleven twelve fifteen seventeen times, resulting in a $70 $100 $120 $130 $160

$180 payment. So, what do you need to do? This is the easy part. Just scroll down and leave us a comment letting us know that you made a donation, and whether it was a $5 or $10 contribution. If you do it multiple times, let us know that too. Even better, if you want to be on our list as a person or company that will match donations, let us know!

Now, what if you don’t have any money to donate? We will make it easy. Just comment with a link to an article on from any of the following websites that you found interesting or helpful, and we will donate $10 on your behalf:

Gear Live, Notebooks.com, AskDaveTaylor.com, Gear Diary, Mobility Minded, Technologizer, WindowsPhoneThoughts, Served Raw, SlashGear, or GeekRoom.

I have to give a big thank you to my pal Xavier over at Notebooks.com. He came up with the idea and invited me to donate. I then asked a few friends, and never thought we’d get the support that we did, so we kicked off our own campaign. Together with Notebooks.com, we have

$10,500 $11,400 $11,650 $12,550

$12,700 in matching donations for your SMS contributions!

The time is now! Leave a comment after donating, tell your friends, forward this around, and share this on Facebook and Twitter using the buttons at the top of the article. Make us spend every penny of the matching funds that are available.

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If you’re an aspiring author who’s been wanting to publish a book, or if you’ve got a blog that you think would be fantastic as a printed work, pay attention. FastPencil has hooked us up with 10 giveaway packages that will let you take your work and put it into a physical, published form, for free. In case you aren’t aware, FastPencil is a super-simple way for anyone to write, organize, sell, and distribute physical books, as well as ebooks. Ten of you will win:

• A free printed book
• A free eBook
• Free shipping and handling

In order to redeem, you’d just put in your original work in the FastPencil system, or if you have a blog, it can be automatically imported. Seriously, it’s very cool, and we’re gonna hook up 10 of you with the prize package. How do you enter? Simple. Just leave a comment here on this post, or over on the Gear Live Facebook page. We will choose ten people randomly a week from today!

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