iBooks Ideas

The possibilities are endless, and authors can't wait until the iBooks Author tool shifts away from being so textbook specific.

Apple Introduces iBooks Author

iBooks Author is also available today as a free download from the Mac App Store and lets anyone with a Mac create stunning iBooks textbooks, cookbooks, history books, picture books and more, and publish them to Apple’s iBookstore.

While the focus was on education and textbooks, I think a lot of authors are going to make good use of iBooks Author.

Nothing New About the Wii U

Ars was still impressed with the demos and particularly the new controller:

The new controller is an impressive thing to hold in your hands. It feels solid and comfortable, and nothing about it marks it as a weak link. The screen itself is bright and beautiful, much clearer than the screen on an iPad, and even small details of the games are able to be seen clearly.

Diablo 3 Coming to Consoles

In response to an inquiry from a fan via Twitter, which asked simply "can you confirm or deny Diablo 3 coming to consoles?" community manager "Bashiok" responded "Yup. Josh Mosqueira is lead designer for the Diablo console project." More specific details have yet to be announced.

Google Introduces Personal Search

Should not be a surprise to anyone that Google is now incorporating Google+ profiles and posts into search results. They call it "Search plus Your World" and it's a simple toggle to turn it off for the tin foil hat wearers out there.

Wii U to Include App Store

The Daily has learned that Nintendo plans to implement a full-blown app store for the system.

Nintendo already offers “shops” for the Wii and DS that offer up original and classic games. The Daily is inferring that this will expand on the Wii U to include more than just games. Nintendo has always placed a focus on games first but times change and people expect a lot more from their devices thanks to Apple.

Xbox Live iOS App Released

Along with the newly updated Xbox LIVE Dashboard, Microsoft has released a new iOS app for Xbox LIVE members. This will probably be Microsoft’s most popular iOS app.

Shawn Blanc Reviews the Kindle Touch

I was up in the air about a Kindle, and preordered late, so I don't expect to get mine until next week. I do have a borrowed 3rd generation Kindle with a keyboard and enjoy it. I'll post a review of the Kindle Touch once I get my hands on it, comparing it to the iPad and Kindle with Keyboard.

Shawn Blanc Reviews the MacBook Air

I've also gone from a 15" MacBook Pro to a 13" MacBook Air, and I'm thoroughly impressed. I still keep a Mac mini around as my house media server that holds the bulk of my content.

And with no “breathing” light to wait for when you close the lid, you never know when it has gone to sleep. Which means, that for all intents and purposes, you don’t think about the MacBook Air going to sleep. You are either using it or not. Like the iPad.

This was one of the things I missed when I first closed the lid on the Air. After getting used to Lion's Resume feature however, "sleep" is meaningless. You can restart a MacBook Air and have all your apps reopened and ready to use in less than 30 seconds.

iCloud Features List

Most people were expecting a music streaming service from Apple. That happens to be the one feature that iCloud is not, but it's so much more than that.

Nintendo

Game Informer speculates that Nintendo's next console, to be announced at E3 next week, will be simply called — Nintendo. I absolutely love it, hope it turns out to be true. A simple, strong name would set the standard to match the heritage of the original Nintendo Entertainment System (which was commonly called 'Nintendo').

11th Hour iOS 5 Screenshot

TechCrunch posts what may or may not be a look at notifications in iOS 5. To me this seems like exactly what Apple would do to revamp notifications, it uses a UI element that already exists, rather than something new and unfamiliar.

Steve Jobs to Give WWDC Keynote

The keynote will highlight iOS 5 as well as Mac OS X Lion, and surprisingly for Apple, they've also confirmed that Steve Jobs will be introducing iCloud, Apple's cloud service offering.

Hype 1.0

Hype is an OS X app that makes creating HTML5 content easy, with no coding required. Looks quite impressive, available now on the App Store for $29.99.

PlainText 1.4

A new update to PlainText adding nifty and often requested features like searching. Very useful app.

Verizon Event Annouced for Jan. 11

John Paczkowski:

No details on its focus, but sources close to the company tell me this will indeed prove to be the long-rumored Verizon iPhone announcement.