The Digital Home

DS DoubleSys, a Nintendo DS lookalike application, has disappeared from the iTunes App Store.

When I followed the app's unique iTunes URL Tuesday, iTunes returned a message saying it is "not currently available in the U.S. store." When I tried searching for the app, no listing was displayed in the results. Last week, a search for "DS Double" returned the app's listing in those same results.

The DS DoubleSys' iTunes link message.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

It shouldn't come as a surprise that the DS DoubleSys app was removed from the App Store. It seemed to me that it was just a little too similar to the Nintendo DS. And since it mimics the Nintendo DS' operation, its menu, and even some of its sounds, I can only bet that Nintendo wasn't happy with it.

At this point, there's no word if ZM2 Dev, the app's developer, is even aware that the app has been removed from the App Store. The company's Web site still lists it as available in Apple's marketplace. In fact, it's bragging about its sales. ZM2 Dev said its app was the eighth most popular paid music game in the U.S. App Store. It was the 72nd most popular app in the store's Arcade listing.

DS DoubleSys is no longer on either of those lists.

The disappearance of the app follows a long line of apps that have been rejected or booted from Apple's App Store. Apple initially allowed DS DoubleSys into its App Store. Although it's possible that Apple thought better of it and decided on its own to remove the app, it's more likely that Nintendo played a part.

At this point, it's still a mystery: neither ZM2 Dev nor Nintendo immediately responded to requests for comment.

Update at 1:53 p.m. PDT: The YouTube video ZM2 Dev used to promote the DS DoubleSys app has been removed from the video site. When users try to play the video, it displays a message that provides more evidence that Nintendo might have been behind the applications removal from the App Store: "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Nintendo of America." (Thanks, mista77.)

Sony's Blu-ray Disc is arguably overpriced and overhyped, and it probably won't be nearly as successful as DVD, but I came across an interesting tidbit of information over the weekend that may make some change their minds about the success of the high-definition video format.

According to Nielsen VideoScan figures for the week ending February 22, Blu-ray captured 10 percent market share, and sales were up 29.31 percent over the same week last year. DVD captured the remaining 90 percent share, but its revenues were down almost 12 percent, year over year.

Granted, that's just one week's figures, and it doesn't mean much in the broader sense, but if you look at previous weeks, those figures are much the same. In fact, Blu-ray is slowly gaining ground on DVD, and its 10 percent share is actually an impressive figure, given its history.

I usually spend my video-allocated cash on other formats, but there is one place where Blu-ray will always win out for me: rentals. I won't stream films, and I won't rent DVDs. Blu-ray is the only format that I will rent from my local video store or get from Netflix. It's as simple as that.

Should Apple release an HDTV with iTunes functionality built-in? I think so.

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Much has been said about Phil Schiller's keynote address at Macworld on Tuesday, where he announced that Apple has finally struck deals with all the major music labels, making songs sold via the iTunes Store free of digital rights management.

The crowd in attendance cheered joyfully when it heard the news, and millions of people across the globe were excited to finally know that all that crazy Apple copyright protection was finally behind them. Even Apple was excited to announce it, and the new pricing model--$0.69 and $1.29, depending on the song--seems to suit its fancy.

For years, we've been hearing about Apple's desire to make iTunes DRM-free. Steve Jobs even wrote a letter detailing his belief that DRM is bad for all of us--record labels included. And now, after years of waiting, Jobs and his minions have finally achieved their goal of eliminating it.

Does that necessarily mean that it's good for Apple, though? I don't think there's a simple answer.

Now that Apple has announced that it is pulling out of Macworld after its 2009 event, during which Steve Jobs won't be making a keynote presentation, the outpouring of outrage is being heaped upon us once again by those who can't believe that Apple is ending its association with IDG and its expo.

Why? IDG and Apple's relationship over the past few years has been anything but cordial, and we can't forget that Apple wants complete control over, well, anything Steve Jobs can get his hands on. On top of that, Apple has been able to create Macworld-like hype for its own events, so the need for a Macworld keynote is even less appealing.

But to simply stop there in trying to explain Apple's decision to drop out of IDG's event would be overlooking the idea that the company may have run out of ideas for Macworld destined to send shock waves through the industry.

A new report suggests that Apple and three of the "Big Four" record labels are in talks to bring DRM-free tracks to iTunes, and once and for all do away with copy protection on the world's largest music store.

I applaud the companies for finally coming together and trying to remove draconian policies while adapting to our changing times, but this news even surprises me a bit.

To me, the bigger news here is not that Apple is trying to bring DRM-free tracks to iTunes--it needs to, thanks to Amazon.com's DRM-free store--but rather that iTunes is an unbridled success, even though DRM abounds on the service.

Any tech lover will tell you that buying songs from Amazon is preferred. After all, why would anyone want to support DRM? And although demographic data isn't readily available, I don't think it's much of a stretch to say Amazon's customers have a heavy population of individuals that are knowledgeable about tech and realize that buying copy-protected tracks only hurts us over the long term.

iTunes customers are entirely different, though. Unlike Amazon customers, I think the majority of iTunes customers are mainstream consumers that don't possess strong tech knowledge, and they're more concerned about convenience and impulse than doing what's best for consumers. After all, if they really cared about what the Recording Industry Association of America is doing to us (and the artists, by the way), they wouldn't buy songs from iTunes, would they?

Stop complaining about DRM. Please.

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Apple announced today that it has not only become the world's most popular TV programming store, thanks to 200 million unit sales of TV shows, but that all four of the major networks--CBS, Fox, ABC, and NBC--are offering high-definition content on the iTunes store.

"We've got an incredible fall 2008 TV lineup with over 70 prime time comedies and dramas, including many of the most popular shows on TV in stunning HD," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of Internet services. "With over 200 million episodes sold, iTunes customers have proven they love watching television on their computer, iPod, iPhone and TV with Apple TV."

If Apple is the world's leading store for buying TV shows and the world's largest music retailer, how can Blu-ray and it's measly 8 percent market share, expect to compete with Apple's freight train as it starts to pick up steam in the movie space?

I contacted Apple for its latest movie sales figures, but the company didn't provide any. Because of that, I'm forced to consider the fact that as of this past January, it had sold 7 million films on iTunes after 15 months of availability. Consider the fact that Blu-ray hit the 7 million-units-sold mark after 18 months, and it's quite obvious that people are ready and willing to download films instead of buying an expensive player and media to go with it.

The announcement Apple made Tuesday was impressive. Steve Jobs and his cronies showed off some of the best notebooks I've seen in quite some time and even after coming down from the initial high of new tech goodness that I get with any product announcement, the impressiveness lingered.

But the real story here isn't that the notebooks sport nicer designs or better components. The real story is that Apple has drawn the line in the sand and told the world that it has tied its future to multitouch technology.

First, multitouch technology in one form or another cropped up on the iPhone, then it moved to the iPod touch, and now it has solidified itself in the entire Mac notebook line. The only products missing are the Apple TV, iMacs, and Cinema Displays, and chances are, the iMacs may be equipped with similar functionality at some time in the future, too.

Of course, Jobs hinted that such a move would become a reality last year. Speaking to The New York Times last year, he hinted that his company was on to something and more Apple products would feature multitouch technology in the future.

"People don't understand that we've invented a new class of interface," he told the Times.