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Adobe has released Photoshop.com Mobile [Free - iTunes Link]. The App Store is cluttered with a ton of photo editing tools, but this was one obvious omission. Nice to see Adobe fill it.

• Crop, rotate, change color with just a touch.
• Give an extra glow with Soft Focus.
• Get artsy with Sketch.
• Apply one-touch effects like Warm Vintage and Vignette.

The app can take photos with the iPhone and/or edit photos already on the iPhone or iPod touch, but can also use a free Photoshop.com account. It’s a cinch to set up. Simply take a few moments to open your photoshop.com account to edit, upload, store, and share all of your iPhone photos.

[Via The Loop]

Daring Fireball has been linking to some interesting discussions on Adobe’s recent announcement that Flash CS5 will compile “ahead of time” native iPhone binaries that can be submitted, as is, to Apple’s iTunes App Store.

First up, KickingBear reminds everyone to give it a chance before burying it just on concept or principle:

Let’s be frank here – **** the tools. If you’re as deep a fan of the Cocoa tool-chain as I am then you likely came to them as I did – after years of dealing with the drastically inferior. Do I believe Cocoa is still the best tool? Yes, I do. But let’s not pretend that it’s the only tool. Some crazy people may prefer other tools, and we may well think they’re insane for doing so. The proof, however, is in the pudding. And it’s the pudding that our customers buy. I’m in love with my oven and at this point I doubt I’ll ever change it but I have no illusions that fashion won’t pass me by. If Adobe, or anyone else, can produce tools that provide a more compelling application on the iPhone then good for them.

On the flip side, /dev/why takes a look at what’s generated by the current process:

Now, the notion that what this thing emits is indistinguishable from something Xcode emits is laughable. They are very different, and not in a good way. While the apps may get acceptable frame rates on an iPhone 3GS, they don’t on earlier hardware, and they almost certainly uses substantially more power battery than native games.

If you’re interested in the topic, give both articles a read and then let us know what you think.

Rock Band from EA is coming to the iPhone and iPod touch and Mashable has the details:

Just as is the case with the original, Rock Band for iPhone offers four different instruments that you can play: vocals, drums, bass, guitar. Each option offers a game experience that is unique to each instrument, so you’re playing the actual drum part when you select “drums,” and so on.

Should you sync up with friends and play over Bluetooth, be prepared to be blown away. The real-time gaming experience is incredible, as yours truly can attest to, and even goes so far as to highlight other players’ activities on your device as they happen.

Head on over to the link above for me info and screenshots. They think it’s “awesome”. What do you think?

To go along with iPhone OS 3.1.2 (and the iPod touch equivalent) released earlier today, Apple has sent an email to registered developers informing them that:

Phone SDK 3.1.2 is now available on the iPhone Dev Center. If you have updated your development devices to iPhone OS 3.1.2, you will need to download and install the new iPhone SDK to continue your development.

A version of iPhone SDK 3.1.2 is also available to developers who are running Mac OS X Snow Leopard. Please ensure you select the appropriate SDK based on your development environment.

Not much to go on yet, other than blackra1n.com going live and Twitter chirping it up as usual, but it looks like Geohot is back on mission and his “one exploit to Jailbreak them all” is on its way.

Jeremy’s keeping an eye on things and will post when there’s something worth posting about, until then how happy are we it wasn’t called chocolatera1n…?

Metallica has just released Live Metallica [$0.99 - iTunes Link], their very own companion application to go along with their LiveMetallica.com website. With it fans can purchase official recordings of each and every single live show since 2004 and listen to the latest concert streaming for free.

Purchase the app, log into your existing LiveMetallica.com account or register as a new user, and voila . . . every show you’ve purchased is there under the “listen” tab, along with a free stream of the latest show on the tour! You can listen to samples of over 5,300 live songs from close to 300 shows, and if you hear something you like, purchase it through the app and it will automatically stream on your phone . . . of course you can download your purchase to your computer later at your leisure. Shows from the free “Vault” section of the site are always streaming, and you can check out photos and notes from almost every show going back to 2004 when the site launched.

Metallica claims to have gotten this idea back in the day when they saw fans bootlegging their shows and figured they would make it more convenient by doing the recording themselves and cashing in. So you have to pay $0.99 to gain access to yet more content you again will have to pay for to access, minus a few free streams and jpegs of the band.

Any hardcore Metallica fans out there going to give this a shot? Let us know in the comments!

[Thanks to Phil for the tip!]

Developers Bjango posted an interesting — and informed — reply today to Newsweek’s sensationalist scoop on the iPhone App Store goldrush, and how the “rushies” might not be finding them much gold any more.

Could it be, the era of the fart-app fortune is… over?

Um, yeah. Anyone (other than the few who first staked their claims) banking — literally — on an everlasting gold rush to make their app fortune, rather than a clear, calculated business plan, is playing the lottery. And we all know the odds of winning those. So what’s the alternative model for the iTunes App Store? The same as it is anywhere, and with anything, else — focused effort and luck, with those who have better focus and more effort finding themselves luckier on average.

Countering Newsweek’s assertion that it takes six months, full time, and costs between $20K and $150K to make an iPhone app, Bjango and indie developers who shared their own stats averaged only a few months, a couple developers, and a mix of full and part time work. Moreover they point out that good ideas are a dime a dozen, and that people passionate about their projects, realistic about their potential, and smart about controlling the bottom line, may just fare better. The best advice, however, is at the end:

There is a mid-point between overnight hit and disastrous failure. However, if money is your primary motivator, then you’ve probably already lost the battle.

Users — the people who buy the apps — don’t care a hoot about some pseudo-devs get-rich-quick crApps. They care about great apps, and developers who make great apps probably want great apps themselves, not lottery tickets. If a great developer gets hugely successful along the way, everyone benefits.

[Thanks Melwan for the tip!]

doubleTwist, the iTunes-replacement created by DVD Jon for music syncing to a multitude of devices, including the iPhone, has just built in integration for the Amazon MP3 Store.

This was the big announcement heralded by the 1984 commercial spoof, according to TechCrunch, and 5 million songs are currently available… to some.

Unlike iTunes, doubleTwist with Amazon MP3 support is Mac and US-only right now (not that Amazon MP3 is widely available anyway — what gives Amazon? You’ve been promising more for a long, long time now?!) with a PC version coming soon. US Mac users, especially those who have many different devices, with non-Apple devices in the mix, may want to take a serious look at (we know Palm should!) And let’s face it — iTunes needs the competition!

If you’re a doubleTwist user, let us know what you think of this new version.

Apple has now weighed in with regards to AT&T’s announcement today that they would be changing their policy and allowing VoIP (Voice over IP) to operate over their 3G network (something they’d previously asked Apple not to allow). When reached for comment, Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris told TiPb:

We’re very happy that AT&T is now supporting VoIP applications. We will be amending our developer agreement to get VoIP apps on the App Store and in customers’ hands as soon as possible.

Hopefully this means users on other carriers, liberated by AT&T along with the rest of us, will now also get VoIP over 3G apps. If any international carriers do decide to ban VoIP themselves at this point — yeah, we don’t see that going over well at all.

Following up on a rumor earlier today that AT&T would be announcing a new, friendlier policy towards Skype and Google Voice, Skype President Josh Silverman posted on the official Skype blog, saying “Good move, AT&T”:

All of us at Skype applaud today’s announcement by AT&T (in an FCC filing to be published shortly) that it’ll open up its 3G network to Internet calling applications such as Skype. It’s the right step for AT&T, Apple, millions of mobile Skype users and the Internet itself.

Silverman reveals that 10% of all iPhone and iPod touch devices have downloaded the Skype app (which makes roughly 5 million installs, if our math is right), and while they give AT&T the requisite kudos, Silverman states that it’s the government and industry regulation that should ensure open networks — in line with the FCC’s recent move to establish “net neutrality“.

Of course, AT&T announcements and Skype enthusiasm are one thing, let’s see how long it takes to get Skype 3G into the App Store.

(And, of course, that still leaves Google Voice)