
Apple’s raining on our Ninja fantasies with truth again. According to the PR team, Steve Jobs did not in fact get those Ninja Stars taken from him. Or at least some part of the story isn’t true. According to the Loop:
“Steve did visit Japan this summer for a vacation in Kyoto, but the incidents described at the airport are pure fiction. Steve had a great time and hopes to visit Japan again soon.”
Maybe Jobs got to put those things in his packed luggage so he and Larry Ellison to take out Nick Denton and Eric Schmidt. Also, Apple doesn’t seem to have a problem calling Bloomberg liars lately, no?
------
Speedtest.net Mobile, a native iOS version of a popular broadband testing tool, has been updated with a new user interface and real-time graphs.
Speedtest.net Mobile is a native iOS version of the most popular broadband testing tool on the Internet. Use it to measure the network speed of your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch.
What's New In This Version:
Completely revamped user interface
● Takes full advantage of iPhone 4 Retina display
● Also tuned for previous generation devices
Real-time graphs for download and upload tests
● See throughput consistency over test duration
● Identify drops in connection quality
Improved testing engine performance
● Most noticeable on older hardware
You can download Speedtest.net Mobile from the App Store for free.

------
Windows Live Messenger for iPhone has been updated with iOS 4 support, Facebook chat, and more.
Windows Live Messenger for iPhone and iPod Touch is the best way to connect with the people that matter most and keep up with the things they are doing across the web. Use your iPhone to instant message your friends list, view and comment on your friends’ photos and status updates from Windows Live, Facebook, and MySpace, and at a glance, see what your Messenger friends are sharing from Flickr, YouTube, and many other social and photo sharing sites. Make sure to visit
http://profile.live.com/Services today and setup Windows Live to bring in your social networks. Messenger is simply the best way to connect with your closest friends.
What's New In This Version:
• iOS 4 fast-switching
• Facebook chat
Connect your account at
http://profile.live.com/Services (Available in US, UK, France, Germany, Brazil, and Russia)
• Friends list filters
• Hide off-line contacts in Settings
• Faster access to change status & sign-out
• Support for 31 languages
You can download Windows Live Messenger from the App Store for free.

------
With Apple's recent decision to ease off on its third-party app creation tools restrictions, gamers are in for some very cool and interesting developments. At the Korea Games Conference, Epic Games announced that the Unreal Development Kit (UDK) will have the ability to generate iOS games and other applications.
The UDK is freely available and has the ability to churn out incredible looking environments, such as the Epic Citadel tech demo you might have downloaded or at least gazed upon in wonder.
If the gameplay of the final, released version of the Citadel demo is as smooth and playable as what was shown at the most recent Apple press event, there's no doubt we'll see even more amazing things come from what developers can churn out with the UDK.
------
Does the iPhone’s 3.5-inch screen ever make you wish for something bigger? With 3.7-inch, 4-inch, and 4.3-inch devices all the rage on other platforms these days, do you want Apple to announce a larger form factor for iPhone 5?
At 960×640 they have the pixels to scale, even if it would reduce density to do so. If it wasn’t Retina Display, but was Big Display, would that be better? A larger screen means it’s easier to read, easier to tap buttons, but harder to fit in your pocket (or hand if you’re dainty).
Tell your preference in the
poll.
------
Happy (belated) birthday today to Mac OS X -- yes, the OS itself actually released to the public on March 24, 2001 (which means its actual "birthday," in my mind, isn't until next March), but on September 13, 2000, points out Macworld, Steve gave us the very first peek at the foundation of modern Apple computing at the Apple Expo in Paris. That's ten years ago yesterday -- we never were all that good with remembering birthdays.
Macworld lists out the ten most significant contributions of the OS to the Mac experience, but things like the Time Machine and Spotlight are on there, and of course those weren't introduced until much later. The OS itself was actually announced six days after the year 2000 started, and the Apple Expo announcement was the beta reveal. Steve Jobs had just come back to the company, bringing his NeXT experience with him, and OS X made waves early on for being a Unix-based operating system. The Aqua user interface was the other big feature of the OS right away -- as Jobs said at that first Macworld Expo, "when you saw it you wanted to lick it." Customers found that out immediately: The beta product itself was released in stores for $29.95.