TUAW has a small article mentioning at additional leakage and rumours hinting at a possible iPhone Nano. As I wrote just some days ago, I doubt this due to the fact that Steve won’t be at MacWorld Expo. There’s something I’d not thought about though. Maybe the rumours regarding Steve’s pancreatic cancer really are closer to the truth than we fear. So my take is, that if there’ll actually be an iPhone Nano, it could be considered as a solid point hinting at a worsened situation regarding Steve Jobs health.
A new Mac Mini, a new iMac, sure, that could be a Phillnote just as well – but the iPhone, Steve’s Wunderkind?

So, there’re new rumours regarding an alleged iPhone Nano. This time there’s even a picture illustrating the new device. I think that this is once again fake. For one, Apple just axed Steve’s speech at this MacWorld. If there really was an iPhone Nano, wouldn’t Steve Jobs want to disclose it to the public himself, instead of letting Phil Schiller do it?

Another doubt comes with the sole idea of a minimized version of the iPhone. A large deal of the iPhone experience comes from the App Store. These applications have been written for the specific display resolution of the current iPhone / iPod Touch hardware. A new device with a smaller screen wouldn’t be able to sufficiently run these applications. I highly doubt that Apple would want a differentiated device landscape, where every developer has to include countless special cases in his code to account for all the quirks of the different devices available (much like with web development). 

So, given that there’s not Steve Jobs at MacWorld, and that an iPhone Nano presumably wouldn’t be able to run App Store applications, I highly doubt the existence of an iPhone Nano. I hope I am wrong though, as a cheap iPhone would expand the App Store audience even further.

I’ve had this book for a while but haven’t had a chance to review it for this site.

Access Denied is a review of different methods of filtering Internet content across 40 countries including North Korea, Myanmar, and quite a few others.

It’s broken up alphabetically by country. Each country’s section is devoted to explaining how that country’s government blocks, doesn’t block, or otherwise restricts access to the Internet at large.

Most people are only familiar with China’s “Great Firewall” but other countries institute similar methods of controlling their populace.

For example, the section on North Korea states that, as a whole, North Korea is a “virtual black hole in cyberspace” but that an intranet exists in the capital of Pyongyang of just over 30 websites.

The section goes on to state “key indicators” of life expectancy, literacy rate, and several other factors. North Korea has a life expectancy of 64 years, and a literacy rate of 99%. Each country summary ends with several pages of bibliographic information for further reading.

Other sections are just as informative and state the type of content each country prohibits and why, which countries have state run ISPs, and other fun facts about where the country is. You can use the data to find out how one country fares against its neighbors.

Access Denied (the book)

Stylemac is all about open source graphic design programs. And, of course, the main one of them all is Blender. From Big Buck Bunny to Project Orange and everything in between, Blender is a very versatile imaging program.

Of course, this doesn’t mean it’s easy to use, the old adage of “easy to play, difficult to master” comes to mind.

I’ve been using Blender for a couple years now and thought I knew a bit of everything Blender had to offer, but I was wrong. I picked up this book by Allan Brito figuring it’d be a refresher in things I already knew, but I was wrong.

Not only does it show a few things I already knew, but a bit more on things I didn’t know. Even my mother, who has used Blender far longer than I have, was able to learn a great deal from this book.

The primary focus of the book is on creating building interiors and lighting effects, but the lessons learned can be put to different uses within Blender.

In all, I’d say this is a great book for new Blender users and veterans alike.

Link to Packt page for the book.

The Copyright Royalty Board is deliberating right now as to whether the royalties paid to music publishers and writers would be increased to 15 cent.

Currently, Apple pays 9 cent per song to the publishers.

Apple states that an increase in price for royalties will end iTunes’ profitability.

Apple threatens to close iTunes