• Apple
• Third Party Applications on the iPhone: Steve Jobs wants third party apps on the iPhone (and iPod touch) after all, and promises a software development kit (SDK) by February. [more at Apple Hot News]
• Jobs confirms iTunes Plus price drop across the board: Not a full day after our initial report that Apple planned to drop the price of all its iTunes Plus tracks (as well as add a number of indie labels to the mix), many users started seeing the changes slowly trickle down from iTunes’ servers. [more at ars technica]
• It’s official: Leopard to go on sale October 26: After much speculation, Apple has confirmed that the next version of its Mac OS X operating system, “Leopard,” will hit stores on Friday, October 26, at 6 p.m. [more at CNET]
• Fenty to Order Switch to Meters for District Taxis: D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) said today he will sign a mayoral order mandating that taxis switch from a zone system to time-and-distance meters. [more at Washington Post]
• Immigration Crackdown Unanimously Approved: The Prince William County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously early Wednesday morning to deny 14 county services to illegal immigrants, following a 12-hour public hearing that drew 400 speakers and 1,200 demonstrators. Supervisors did not vote until after 2:30 a.m. [more at WJLA]
• Oh, he’s walking the plank in his undies again..: An Australian man, clad only in underwear, fell nine stories while trying to build a makeshift plank bridge into a neighbor’s flat, but lived to tell the tale. [more at Reuters]

And if you got this far down, what exactly does it mean to toss a sheep? The question just came up at the office… seriously!

• A Bruise or Two on Apple’s Reputation: For Apple, there may be a downside to success. Sales of the Cupertino company’s Macintosh machines are growing three times as fast as the overall PC market. Its iPod music player is burying the competition. And the stylish iPhone is setting the wireless industry on its head. But as Apple pulls in millions more customers with different kinds of products, it’s getting harder to keep them all happy. [more at BusinessWeek; of note is a woman who claimed to buy an iMac at an Apple Store and spent $4,000. A commenter on the article rightly calls shenanigans on that. Even if she bought the most expensive iMac available at the store -- which includes a wireless mouse and keyboard -- upgraded the RAM to its maximum, and bought AppleCare and ProCare (One to One wasn't available until May.), all of which combined would be highly unlikely, she still would have spent less than $4,000 on the machine alone.]
• Metro Seeks Better Ways To Get Word Out to Riders: It was rush hour. Metro trains were stuck. Smoke, fire and a power failure had shut down 11 of 86 stations, mostly in Virginia, and shuttle buses dispatched to pick up stranded passengers didn’t know where to go. [more at Washington Post]
• Drew’s Debut: Carey ‘Price Is Right’ Era Begins: Let the games begin. The Drew Carey era of The Price Of Right kicked off Monday after 35 successful years with Bob Barker at the helm, complete with a colorful brand new set and a youthful breath of fresh air. [more at WCBS-TV; photos of the new set, which finally gets out of the '70s and into the late '80s (maybe early '90s), are available at CBS' web site.]

Among the announcements at today’s “The Beat Goes On” event at Apple (Yes Virginia, there really is a revamped iPod line.), the iPhone is getting a price drop.

Surprise!

And Dan Cederholm called it out on twitter about an hour ago.

The 8GB iPhone drops to $399, a $200 difference from it’s release date price. No word on 4GB pricing, though given it’s $499 price point there’s no doubt that it too will see a price break.

Sigh. This happened to me last year too; not long after I bought a 60GB iPod, Apple upgraded it upped the capacity and dropped the price.

Update: I should clarify something here. The fact that the iPhone’s price dropped doesn’t bother me at all. In fact, I expected it would… eventually. A $200 price break in just over two months since release is a bit of a burn, though. Such is the price for early adoption, I guess.

As for last year’s iPod incident, the 60GB model had been out a while, but I didn’t pay attention to speculation that a bigger model would soon be out.

In nearly two months of iPhone ownership, I’ve decided that the iPhone needs to support three things: song lyrics, iPod games and the Camera Connector.

I needed to pick up some batteries on the way home, and eyeing a special I grabbed this 8-pack of Duracells.

Included in this package is a free set of earbuds. White ones. That closely resemble the original iPod earbuds.

At least at the part that goes in your ear.

Here’s a video of how copying and pasting might work on an iPhone, if Apple ever decided to implement it. (via kottke)

Send an iPhone in for service, get a replacement with a free paper clip… to open the SIM card tray, natch. (via Urban Bohemian)

AppleHound lists 68 perceived bugs in Apple’s iPhone, a few of which I’ve experienced myself. Some aren’t really bugs per se, but either documented features or user interface requests. (via Machinist)

Bonus link: There’s a bug in iPhone’s calculator

These are my links for 9 Jul:

• iPhone Approll - Your directory of iPhone software and applications
• Optimize your iPhone storage

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