Free applications from the Android Market have been available since at least day one of the HTC Magic release in New Zealand. Apparently local currency conversion has stopped paid applications up until now.

Today, our dedicated Android forum member, Rob, has just posted a note saying that paid apps quietly appeared last night. I guess the currency issue has been resolved. You can check out some of the top-selling paid applications on the Anroid Market here.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Skeletor

Overall, if you were expecting something huge from Apple’s “Only Rock and Roll” event, you’re going to be disappointed. The biggest shock was FM radio in the new iPod Nano. Even the video camera in the device had been widely telegraphed, and the lack of video in the iPod Touch is something of a disappointment.

So rounding it all up:

• iTunes 9 with improved Genius (including Genius for Apps) and finally App organisation (you can arrange which screens apps will appear on before syncing to your iPhone or iPod Touch).
• iTunes LPs – single download (note: not this single-file format we’ve been hearing about), including photos, video, liner notes, lyrics.
• iPod Touch 8GB gets a price drop to NZ$349, and we get speedier 32GB and 64GB models for $519 and $699. Bear in mind you won’t get OpenGL|ES 2.0 on the $199 model, so we’ll see some game compatibility issues cropping up there I think.
• More games – notably Madden from EA and Assassin’s Creed.
• iPod Classic gets a capacity bump to 160GB for NZ$429
• iPod Shuffle gets colours at the standard $99 price, and a new “special edition” 4GB model for $129.
• iPod Nano is the biggest change-up, with video camera (640×480 resolution, so there’s no way it’s competing with the Flip-type HD cameras), and FM Radio (!). NZ$259 for the 8GB, and $318 for the 16GB models.

And that’s it. No tablet. No Apple LCD TV. Just an incremental bump in iPod lineup. All of which are available as of now from the NZ Apple Store with 24hr delivery.

And I know we’re not supposed to talk about it, but Steve Jobs was back, and looking anorexic. The guy is sick. More power to him, and I’ve known other people who have opted to “die with their boots on” rather than go out with a whimper.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Some of my most popular blog posts have been rants on poor usability. That such rants from a layman are popular and accurate reflects poorly on the current state of product and software design. It’s as if consumer electronics and software were astronaut tools, designed by earthbound marketroids with no knowledge of microgravity.

Yet usability is not astroscience.

I wouldn’t call myself a usability professional, but I’m happy to take on the mantle of usability expert. As should you. In my mind, all users are usability experts, and have a duty to speak out against poor usability and product design. After all, what is usability if not the ability for casual consumers to get the most from a product? And who better to decide the success of that product’s design than the casual user?

Instead, we’ve fallen into a lazy, disinterested mode of consumption. We put up with crap design and poor usability in exchange for ubiquity and “innovative consumer-driven synergistic marketing opportunities” – products and designs foisted on us because we fall into some definition of a particular market segment. It’s an extension of what Paul Lukas calls inconspicuous consumption:

It’s about deconstructing the details of consumer culture — details that are either so weird or obscure that we’d never see them, or so ubiquitous that we’ve essentially stopped seeing them. This can mean anything from a bizarre canned good, like sauerkraut juice, to a beautifully designed light-industrial object that we’ve always taken for granted, like the Brannock Device (that gizmo they use to measure your shoe size).

In the same way, we’ve stopped caring about the way our products are designed. We assume that modern shampoo bottles have to be aerodynamic, and that electronic volume controls have to be buttons. We take it as given that registration is required on many websites, and that every software package must have a hundreds of different “options” in the preferences pane. Read more…

Popularity: 6% [?]

It’s been a long time coming, but Geosmart and the AA will start transmitting traffic data via coded FM radio messages from next week. NBR has some details, but basically any device capable of receiving the signals (and licensed to do so) can tell you what the traffic is like nearby.

The first device out of the block will be from Navman. I’ve had, just politely, mixed experience with Navman, but have been told that the new batch is greatly improved.

I’m really interested to know if the system will use the NZTA’s new occupancy sensors. If you’re observant (like me), you’ll have noticed inductance loops buried every km or so all over Auckland’s motorways. Look carefully next time: they look like a grid of cuts in the road, and are often connected to a little junction box sitting on top of the median barrier. These sensors will give awesome, granular info on every part of the motorway system. Unfortunately I’m guessing they’re not ready to go yet.

If you’re a codemonkey, you might be interested to know that NZTA plans to create an open API for the sensor information once it is up and running. Data mashups ahoy!

Popularity: 14% [?]

It’s amazing that Apple have got as far as they have with the App Store. Looking back now, I wonder if it was more about the lack of decent competition rather than some massive Jobsian mind trick. Look, the iPhone is hands-down the most wonderfully designed and usable smart phone on the market – no doubt about it. You guys saying your Nokia 3110 is “better” can bugger off. People claiming the N97 or HTC Magic have a better user experience are on crack.

The App Store is amazing because Apple treat their developers like lepers. I’ve experienced the process of submitting an app first-hand, and completely concur with PolarBearFarm that the experience is appalling.

I’ve also long since given up any benefit of the doubt regarding their banning of selected apps. If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it’s banned because it’s not an Apple duck. It’s not because Apple is trying to shield the world from the horrors of ducks. It’s flat out anti-competitive.

Yet they keep saying non-Apple ducks are dangerous. Apple keep saying that people mustn’t be allowed full access to their device because they’ll blow up cell towers or some other madness. This is such total, unadulterated birdshit. It makes me angry. People have been walking around for years with mallards on their Windows Mobile phones and geese on Symbian. I don’t see AT&T or Vodafone constantly rebuilding cell towers on the molten wrecks of previous ones.

But lo! What is this: Apple seem to be doing quite well at completely knackering their own devices by allowing nefarious code to run.

Glass houses. Put your stones down Apple, then come out and play.

Popularity: 6% [?]