This week’s episode of OMG/JK is a long one — the longest yet, in fact, at 30 minutes. Jason and I apologize for going on and on but we had a lot to talk about. It’s been roughly three weeks since we last recorded an episode and a ton of stuff has happened.

And while we don’t even come close to getting through all of it, we do go pretty in-depth on some of the major things: iPhone vs. Android sales, WWDC, iOS 5, iCloud, Galaxy Tab 10.1, Google Music Beta, Facebook’s Project Spartan, dining in hell with Facebook’s PR team, Facebook’s new Photos app, Twitter/iOS, and Chromebooks.

Below find some relevant links to stories we talk about, and enjoy the episode above. A small programming note: since Jason is packing up his things and moving to New York City, this may be the last in-studio episode we do for a while. But hopefully our weekly schedule will continue uninterrupted thanks to the miracle of Skype — assuming that company doesn’t run itself into the ground before the Microsoft deal closes.

• The Verizon iPhone Halted Android’s Surge. The iPhone 5 Could Reverse It.
• Is Android Surging Only Because Apple Is Letting It?
• Live From Apple’s WWDC 2011 Keynote
• Watch Out Facebook Connect, Apple Pushes Twitter Sign-Ins In iOS 5
• “It Just Works.”
• The Final Word: Yes, You Will Be Able To Access iCloud Apps On The Web
• Thinking Outside The Browser Box: Why Should Apple Play By Current Internet Rules?
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Hits NYC June 8, Everywhere Else June 17
• A First Look At Google Music Beta
• Fly Or Die: Hands On With The Google Music Beta And A Wild New Wi-Fi Hard Drive
• Project Spartan: Facebook’s Hush-Hush Plan To Take On Apple On Their Own Turf: iOS
• Facebook PR: Tonight We Dine In Hell!
• Exposed: Facebook’s Secret iPhone Photo Sharing App (Which Looks Amazing)
• Behold: Facebook’s Secret Photo Sharing App
• Behold: The Chromebook (Samsung Series 5)
• Initial Thoughts On The Samsung Series 5 Chromebook

Subscribe to us on iTunes!

Here’s a tiny tidbit of news for all you Apple aficionados out there: the Cupertino company waited until the day its developer conference kicked off (June 6) to register a bunch of product-related domains.

I’m sure they cost Apple a heck of a lot less than the $4.5 million purchase of icloud.com.

And no, they still don’t own ipad.com (yet), nor do they own ipods.com (yet).

Here’s all 50 domain names revealed to have been registered by Apple last Monday (in alphabetical order):

- airplaymirroring.com
- appleairplaymirroring.com
- appledocumentsinthecloud.com
- applegestures.com
- appleicloudphotos.com
- appleicloudphotostream.com
- appleimessage.com
- appleimessaging.com
- appleiosv.com
- appleitunesinthecloud.com
- appleitunesmatch.com
- applelaunchpad.com
- applemailconversationview.com
- applepcfree.com
- applephotostream.com
- appleversions.com
- conversationview.com
- icloudstorageapi.com
- icloudstorageapi.com
- icloudstorageapis.com
- icloudstorageapis.com
- ios5newsstand.com
- ios5pcfree.com
- ipaddocumentsinthecloud.com
- ipadimessage.com
- ipadpcfree.com
- iphonedocumentsinthecloud.com
- iphoneimessage.com
- iphonepcfree.com
- itunesinthecloud.com
- itunesmatching.com
- macairdrop.com
- macgestures.com
- macmailconversationview.com
- macosxlionairdrop.com
- macosxlionlaunchpad.com
- macosxlionmissioncontrol.com
- macosxlionresume.com
- macosxlionversions.com
- macosxversions.com
- mailconversationview.com
- osxlionairdrop.com
- osxlionconversationview.com
- osxliongestures.com
- osxlionlaunchpad.com
- osxlionresume.com
- osxlionversions.com
- osxresume.com
- pcfreeipad.com
- pcfreeiphone.com

Using the live notes MacRumors took during the event, Mann and company perform a brilliant song. If you don’t want to watch the entire 2-hour keynote on video, this is the perfect substitute (along with our follow-up notes).

Mann recently used Kickstarter to secure funds for an album — which we eagerly await. For now enjoy the latest song below.

The Gillmor Gang — John Borthwick, Robert Scoble, John Taschek, Kevin Marks, and Steve Gillmor — were rendered iCloudy in the aftermath of Steve Jobs’ WWDC announcements. Even stalwart Google fanboys Taschek and Marks found it difficult to withstand the halo surrounding Apple’s aggressive move to the Cloud and iOS as the dominant platform moving forward. Betaworks’ John Borthwick applauded the Twitter integration and just about everything about iCloud’s new grip on the music business.

You’d expect Robert Scoble’s enthusiasm for iOS/X in comparison to Microsoft’s Windows 8 adoption of ZunePhone UI, but the highlight of a day of highlights was the just one more teeny little thing coup de grace of iTunes Match. In a single flick of the lighter, Apple gave us the tiny nudge we needed to erase music’s years of isolation from the digital age. At 256K and cord-less synching, Mobile Me went from $99 to $25 and all the records you can eat.

We’re live in not-so-sunny San Francisco, where Apple is hosting their annual Worldwide Developer Conference — and, more directly important to the masses of Apple fans around the world, the WWDC Keynote.

We already know some of what Apple’s announcing: OS X Lion, iOS 5, and a new, mostly-mysterious product called iCloud. From what we’re seeing, though, they’ve still got at least one secret up their sleeve. Join us after the jump for all of our up-to-the-second updates.

The main event begins at 10 a.m. Pacific. Tune in early, though: we’ll have color commentary and pictures from the scene beginning by around 8:45 a.m.

That’s almost two hours before the doors open and nearly four hours until the keynote session.

Update: TechCrunch is currently live at WWDC 2011.

And as noted by Business Insider, at 4:15 AM the line was already two blocks long, too.

Damman has a video to prove it:

Apple’s big developer conference, WWDC, is coming up next week, and what better way to prepare than with a rap song? Cory Smith, the man who brought us Developers, The Rap featuring Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, now has one for Apple. It is called One More Thing, and I’ve embedded it below. Here is a sample (see what I did there?) of some of the lyrics:

Phil Schiller told us
we wouldn’t want to miss this
would have been gold
if there’d been more specifics
so I look to Gruber
discern his predictions
to see if the rumours
will turn into fiction
damn this consumer addiction
to all these gadgets
and the magic within them
all the designs
by jonny ive
so I guess I better check who’s blogging live
can’t wait to download the developer preview

Smith is not only a rapper, he is also a mobile developer at music-sharing platform Cardinal Media Technologies.

First of all, a lot of sites seem to be working themselves into a tizzy about the so-called “iPhone 4S”. While it has already been widely reported that there will not be any major hardware announcements at WWDC this year, people seem to be letting their imaginations get the best of them anyway. This site, for example, notes that Apple is pushing for British journalists to fly out for WWDC. And today, there’s a report about Australian journalists getting the same message. Both conclude this must be for the “iPhone 4S”.

Read more…

With WWDC quickly approaching, the rumor mills are heating up with what we should expect at Apple’s annual conference known for big announcements. We’ve learned a little bit more that speaks to what to expect — including a couple of big, widely-requested things.

First of all, a lot of sites seem to be working themselves into a tizzy about the so-called “iPhone 4S”. While it has already been widely reported that there will not be any major hardware announcements at WWDC this year, people seem to be letting their imaginations get the best of them anyway. This site, for example, notes that Apple is pushing for British journalists to fly out for WWDC. And today, there’s a report about Australian journalists getting the same message. Both conclude this must be for the “iPhone 4S”.

As Electricpig writes:

A source tells us that Apple’s UK iPhone PR team is approaching journalists from major publications to fly out to the event in San Francisco next month. The obvious conclusion would be that Apple is announcing a new iPhone. Or rather, an updated model. The iPhone 4S is slated as a stop-gap before the appearance of a true, ‘&%!*, they’ve done it again!’ game-changer next year.

In no way is that an obvious conclusion. I’m not disputing the fact that Apple’s iPhone PR team wants people at this event. But guess what else that PR team is in charge of? iOS.

Apple is Apple — they may always have a “one more thing” up their sleeve. And at least one of our sources still thinks that Apple will surprise with some new iPhone hardware. But right now, we’re not buying it. All other (solid) indications are that there will still be no hardware announcements at WWDC. None. And the extension of invitations to journalists in no way indicates anything different.

Instead, we’re hearing that Apple is pushing for journalists to come to WWDC because the software announcements will be huge (and they likely know that journalists hearing there will be no iPhone 5 announcement may choose to stay home instead this year). And the changes will be vital for all developers in the Apple ecosystem(s) to know about.

And remember, this isn’t just about iOS 5. This is about Apple’s entire software backbone. iOS and OS X are both about to receive massive upgrades at the same time. And both will likely be extensively previewed at WWDC. Add to this Apple’s cloud announcements (which may or may not include the “iCloud” music stuff) and you suddenly have a WWDC that looks anything but boring, new iPhone or not.

The second bit of information we have heard is about iOS 5 itself. First of all, while we’ve been leading the reports of Nuance technology being fully baked into iOS 5, one place we’ve heard it won’t be used (at least not yet) is Voice Control. That’s odd since it’s perhaps the most obvious usage. But apparently, in the builds of iOS 5 currently being tested, the little-used feature hasn’t changed at all, we hear.

That could obviously change before the release (which is still likely months away, even though it will be previewed at WWDC), but apparently the Nuance technology is meant for bigger things more core to the OS than that one feature.

The other big news for iOS5 — and yes, I’ve completely buried the lede here, thanks for reading! — two things: completely revamped notifications and widgets.

Expect a lot more in a couple weeks. Obviously, we’ll be there live covering the event.

Apple this morning announced that it will hold its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) June 6 through June 10 at San Francisco’s Moscone West.

The company promises to “unveil the future of iOS and Mac OS”, demo a bunch of applications and host more than 100 technical sessions (presented by Apple engineers).

The site for the event is not up yet – the link is “apple.com/xx” which we suspect is an error on the company’s part.

(Update: fixed – tickets here for $1,599 each).

Interesting, the supporting quote in the press release announcing the dates for the event was not provided by CEO Steve Jobs but by Philip Schiller, SVP of Worldwide Product Marketing:

“At this year’s conference we are going to unveil the future of iOS and Mac OS. If you are an iOS or Mac OS X software developer, this is the event that you do not want to miss.”

Further reading: iOS 5 Likely Pushed To The Fall After A Cloud Unveiling At WWDC

Many people (including myself) were a bit disappointed that Apple didn’t devote any time during the iPad 2 unveiling to talking about iOS 5, the next major revamp of the software. But there may be a very good reason for that: it’s not coming anytime soon. In fact, the plan right now is to wait to launch iOS 5 until the fall, we’ve heard from two solid sources.

If our sources are right, this would break the pattern of Apple unveiling the latest iOS iteration in the early spring, leading up to a summer launch alongside new iPhone hardware. The spring timetable usually reserved for an iOS roadmap event is why some were hoping Apple may just rope the details into the iPad 2 event. When that didn’t happen, rumors quickly spread that there may be another event in April to talk iOS 5 (and MobileMe). But it’s looking like that will not be the case this year.

But it’s not all bad news. Here’s what we’re hearing right now:

• iOS 5 will launch in the fall and will be a major revamp of the OS.
• It could well be previewed at WWDC, it just won’t be released then.
• The iOS 5 launch is also likely to coincide with the release of a new type of iPad, which we previously reported on.
• The new iOS will be heavily built around the cloud, and we could see several new services launch from Apple that take advantage of this.
• Yes, one of those is very likely a “music locker” service. There is also a fall launch aim for this, during Apple’s annual music-themed event.
• But much of the cloud stuff will first be talked about at WWDC, Apple’s developer event which will take place in June.
• One of the new cloud service elements is likely a location service that focuses on finding friends and family members.
• As we said yesterday, OS X Lion is still on pace for a summer release — some of the new cloud components are likely to be baked into it as well.

So the next obvious question is where does this leave the iPhone 5? Again, the standard model for Apple has been to release a new iPhone alongside the new iOS version. We haven’t heard anything specifically about the iPhone with this news, but I would guess that it’s still on track for a WWDC unveiling and release shortly thereafter.

Update: Strike that on the iPhone 5. Jim Dalrymple is hearing WWDC will be a software-only and will not include an unveiling of new hardware. We’ve just heard the same thing as well. This morning, Apple formally unveiled the dates of WWDC and the release also points to software being the key. I suspect an iPhone 5 will have to wait until the fall as well, which will keep the hardware and software in line.

That’s all for now, more to come in the coming weeks, I’m sure.

[photo: flickr/vsz]

Yes this is WWDC week all over the internets. We would just like to take a second and apologize for bombarding your feeds with Apple updates, unless you’re into that sort of thing. To take your mind off it, check out this Ronald Jenkees video and have some “crunchy” fun.

With WWDC just around the corner, it was only a matter of time before a few more details leaked out about the event. Steve Jobs recently mentioned at All Things D that come Monday we wouldn’t be left disappointed, even after the new iPhone had been leaked into the wild. Something exciting is still up Steve’s sleeve but is it Safari 5?

Newly updated support docs from Apple show that the new Safari – version 5, due to be showcased this week, will be 25 percent faster crunching JavaScript than Safari 4 and will offer expanded HTML 5 support. Not only that, expect Bing to be offered as a search option alongside Google and Yahoo. Finally, Safari 5 will also include a new “Safari Reader” which will offer a clutter-free way to view articles sans ads.

So, Mr. Jobs, was this the news that wouldn’t disappoint?

Follow along with WWDC Bingo.

http://embed.scribblelive.com/5/0/1/1/

Seriously, though, this is a pretty good representation of the major points we expect to be covered at WWDC this coming week. I’m not sure how we’ll know whether there’s a robot Steve Jobs or not, but it seemed prudent to put the possibility on the card regardless.

Keep this handy as a quick reference; we’ll have in-depth coverage this week all over the network. And maybe a prize or two?

WWDC is next week and the Internet gods are saying that there is a new iPhone coming. This screenshot from UK’s Carphone Warehouse hints that they might be right and the new iPhone will come in 16GB and 32GB flavors, with a white model available for both options.

The large UK retailer is an official iPhone reseller that might have access to this previledge info. Plus, this might mean that the iPhone V3 could see a mult-country launch soon.

Anyway, hold tight fanboys. Monday is just around the corner. Pre what?

We at CG love the Pre and I find it hard to believe that this will be a dog – but we have been wrong. Palm could fall into the traps that the other iPhone-alikes fell into: wonky OSes over slow UIs that turn a great experience into a good one. Here’s hoping we’re wrong.

The second reason reeks of hubris, albeit of the well-deserved variety. As we’ve seen, Palm is pretty proud of their work, as they should be. They went from zero to hero overnight and they owned CES 2009. So why not take on the biggest kid on the block? By launching two days before anything Apple is launching, they could own the news cycle. There is no concrete proof that Apple is doing anything but launching a new iPhone OS at WWDC – since Steve left it’s gotten infinitesimally easier to grab leaks out of Cupertino than it once was, which isn’t saying much. However, with something as big as new iPhone hardware you’d assume some strange Chinese site would have something on it. However: bupkus. So maybe Palm is planning to own that week.

The third and final possibility is the least likely one: Sprint ham-handed this launch for Palm and essentially ignored all outside factors and just wanted to get something out on a nice Saturday – note that they’re launching on a Saturday in order to ensure long lines and plenty of ink – in June. Carriers know how to sell commodity handsets but this is the first time Sprint has ever gotten a Handset of Desire (TM) akin to the iPhone. Maybe they just don’t know how to throw a party?

Whichever it is, the Palm Pre better be as amazing as I think it will be or else I’m totally getting rid of the Palm V I’m using now and buying an iPaq.

Fun fact: Did you know that Apple is really run by a spiritual energy field so bright and blinding that Apple engineers have to wear special “sensory suits” in order to enter the special lead-lined conference room in Cupertino where they present their new ideas to the “the one whose name is the death of stars and the giver of life to all that lives?”

Apple Worldwide Developers Conference to Kick Off with Keynote Address on Monday, June 8

CUPERTINO, California—May 13, 2009—Apple® will kick off its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with a keynote address on Monday, June 8 at 10:00 a.m. A team of Apple executives, led by Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, will deliver the keynote. WWDC will offer in-depth sessions on both iPhone™ OS 3.0, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, and Mac OS® X Snow Leopard™, an even more powerful and refined version of the world’s best desktop operating system and the foundation for future Mac® innovation.

“Last June, we gave developers an early look at the powerful new technologies that form the underpinnings of Mac OS X Snow Leopard,” said Bertrand Serlet, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “At WWDC, we will be giving our developers a final Developer Preview release so they can see the incredible progress we’ve made on Snow Leopard and work with us as we move toward its final release.”

Snow Leopard and Mac technical sessions will showcase hundreds of refinements to the operating system and dive deep into its new technologies including a 64-bit architecture, QuickTime® X, next-generation multicore and GPU processor support, and amazing new accessibility technologies. iPhone OS 3.0 technical sessions will cover introductory and advanced concepts to help developers get the most out of the iPhone OS 3.0 SDK and over 1,000 new APIs available for iPhone OS 3.0.

WWDC also offers attendees the unique opportunity to work side-by-side with Apple engineers to solve code-level issues, gain insight into development techniques and get expert advice on interface design.

Other activities at Apple’s WWDC 2009 include:

* more than 100 technical sessions presented by Apple engineers on a wide range of technology-specific topics for developing, deploying and integrating iPhone OS 3.0 and Mac OS X technologies;
* over 1,000 Apple engineers presenting the latest in Apple technologies and providing one-to-one direction in hands-on labs; and
* the opportunity to connect with thousands of fellow iPhone and Mac developers from around the world.

Visit the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2009 website for registration and more details at WWDC.

As Apple’s WWDC gets ever closer the rumors begin to hot up. Today’s drivel: the MacBook and MacBook Pro may see slight upgrades there. Apple may throw in built-in 3G support, along with the usual speed bumps; it may also make the battery more difficult to remove, in the interest of aesthetics.

And aside from those possible notebook upgrades, expect to see something happen to the company’s pro applications, like Logic and Final Cut Pro.

Nothing yet on that rumored Apple netbook, I’m afraid. Should it actually come out, I cannot wait for dozens of “what does this mean for Apple?” stories.

Obligatory zoomed in and super tilted photo: Flickr