Features

• Is Sony preparing for the extinction of the DVD?

  Sony is experimenting with exclusive features embedded into its iTunes movies, PaidContent reports, slowly paving the way for the day when DVDs will be no more. In the iTunes version of The Other Guys users can search through the script of the movie to see the exact moment a line was said in the film, while other pictures like Salt and Resident Evil: Afterlife allow you to share video snippets on social media.

• Apple's app store guidelines don't change anything

  If you were to take a quick glance at today's tech headlines, you might think hell had frozen over.

• Five reasons I won't be using Ping

  Despite all the hardware Apple introduced at its press event Wednesday, the most radical news was Ping, a social network for music that's launching as a feature of iTunes 10. I've taken a brief test drive of Ping to see what it's about, but even before updating iTunes, I knew Apple's new social network was not for me. Here are five reasons I won't be using Ping:

• iTunes streams from the clouds: 8 questions

  Apple is getting close to launching a cloud-based version of iTunes that supports wireless streaming music and movies and wireless syncing, according to new reports on the effort first reported earlier this year.

• After 10 billion songs, what's iTunes' encore?

  Apple's iTunes Store reached a major milestone this week when it delivered its 10 billionth song, an event that highlights the great success of Cupertino's digital-download service.

• Timeline: iTunes Store at 10 billion

  On Wednesday Apple's iTunes Store served its 10 billionth music download, according to the company. Here's a look at notable moments in its history:

• Palm lost the iTunes sync battle (again)

  The release of the iTunes 9.0.2 update on Thursday yet again disables Palm's workaround to sync with Apple's popular jukebox software. Perhaps it's high time Palm moved on and created its own software.

• Apple's September 9 event: 5 hot bets

  Now that Apple has confirmed it's planning an invitation-only bash September 9 in San Francisco, our time to speculate is running short. What new stuff is coming?

• Top 10 reader iPhone annoyances (and how to fix them)

  Who knew there were so many iPhone annoyances? Last week we listed ten common failings of the iPhone and discussed how to correct them. Maybe it was naïve to restrict the list to ten entries. Reader feedback suggests that iPhone users have no shortage of annoyances they'd like to see solved.

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  Food fight! Palm and Apple out of sync!

  Palm Inc.'s decision to re-enable syncing to iTunes in its new Web OS update has an element of Palm taunting Apple Inc.

• Why Palm Needs To Ditch iTunes and Create a Media Sync

  Yesterday Palm released an update to its webOS mobile operating system for the Pre, v1.1.0. The new webOS packs a handful of enterprise-oriented features, like the ability to remotely wipe the Pre, along with a number of maintenance fixes and more. But perhaps most interestingly, webOS v1.1.0 also "re-enables" the iTunes sync feature that Apple blocked via its own software update earlier this month.That's good news for Pre users, since it's remarkably simple to use iTunes to sync media libraries to the Pre. However, it'll no doubt be short-lived and Pre owners will soon find themselves in the same iTunes-sync-less position they did last week, when Apple released iTunes v8.2.1, which blocked Pre syncing.

• Apple's iPhone and iPod monopolies must go

  With a year and 1.5 billion downloads under its belt, maybe its time for Apple's App Store--and Music Store--to get some competition. Whether Apple likes it or not.