The war of words between Adobe and Apple over the latter company's apparent campaign to dethrone Flash as a standard web development technology continues to escalate.

Besides declining to work with Adobe to bring Flash to the iPhone OS, Apple has recently changed the Terms of Service for the iPhone SDK to disallow development with unauthorized tools like Adobe's new Creative Studio 5.

Earlier this week Adobe's Mike Chambers indicated that due to the new restrictions in the iPhone SDK TOS, Adobe won't contine development of tools to create iPhone apps in Flash CS5. Chambers wrote that Apple wants to "make it difficult for developers to target other platforms."

Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller shot back in a statement pointing out that the iPhone OS supports common open standards like HTML5, CSS, Javascript and H.264, calling Flash "closed and proprietary."

But does support for open standards actually make the iPhone OS itself open? After all, Flash also supports H.264, but as Muller correctly points out that doesn't stop it from being closed.

Does Apple's decision to restrict development tools and methods really have anything to do with openness? It seems unlikely.

Apple's own approach, the iPhone SDK, is proprietary and closed as well and gives Apple control all the way through distribution to consumers.

In response to an email from an OS X developer critical of the new SDK TOS, Steve Jobs recently outlined a more believable, if not entirely accurate, rationale.

Jobs wrote, "intermediate layers between the platform and the developer ultimately produces sub-standard apps and hinders the progress of the platform."

The problem with this argument is that using non-Apple sanctioned (ie controlled) development tools isn't an indication of poor quality any more than using the official tools improves it. Ultimately quality is in the developer's hands.

As to hindering progress, that's only true if you define platform as the iPhone SDK, rather than the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad or even iPhone OS itself. In reality app development on these platform is limited by the iPhone SDK

Their capabilities could be exploited to come up with even more innovative apps by third parties if not for Apple's obstruction.

It's hard to believe that Apple's reliance on DMCA anti-circumvention language and restrictive language in SDK agreements with developers is either open or conducive to progress. Both are artificial barriers to the creative process of developing software.

Even harder to believe is that Apple is oblivious to the growing government interest in various aspects of the iPhone business, including the app approval process.

Apple is already involved in various iPhone related patent lawuits against companies including prominent Android phone vendor HTC and worldwide mobile phone (and smartphone) industry leader Nokia. Federal investigators have already gotten involved in the Nokia dispute.

If Adobe ends up filing a lawsuit against Apple, which seems to be the rumor or speculation du jour every day, it would certainly lead to more pressure on Congress and federal regulators.

There's no doubt Apple's decision to outlaw converted Flash apps from the App Store will have a negative impact on Adobe, particularly with their new CS5 software having just been released. Some have argued that the reason for Apple's oddly timed introduction of the next iPhone OS to developers was intended to coincide with Adobe's CS5 launch.

The ability to convert Flash projects to iPhone apps has been touted as a major selling point for months, and with good reason given the number of App Store downloads. However that doesn't automatically make what Apple is doing illegal.

Which may explain why there's been no lawsuit from Adobe yet. The only grounds for forcing Apple to open the iPhone OS to third party application frameworks would seem to be an antitrust claim.

The iPhone, successful as it has been, hasn't made Apple the number 1 mobile phone or even smartphone vendor in the US. Those titles belong to Motorola and Research In Motion (RIM) respectively.

Without a dominant market position Apple certainly can't hold a monopoly so any antitrust complaint seems doomed.

However there still might be an alternative solution for Adobe and other companies who want to develop software for the iPhone without Apple's blessing. They could throw support behind the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) effort to get a DMCA exemption for smartphone jailbreaking.

Such an exemption would allow Adobe, Microsoft, Sun or any other application framework provider the chance to extend their architecture to the iPhone by piggybacking on consumer rights.

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T-Mobile USA has announced that it will become the exclusive carrier of GPS maker Garmin's first ever smartphone, the Android-based Garminfone.

The phone has a 3.5-inch screen, 3MP camera with autofocus, and because of the GPS, the pictures can be geo-tagged. The GPS, as standard, works over 3G and Wi-Fi.

While those specs are not impressive, the Garminfone is notable because of its GPS system, which has on-board US maps, text-to-speech, full driving/walking/public transportation directions, real-time traffic, weather, local events, movie listings and even gas prices.

The next best feature is "Garmin Voice Studio" which lets users "record and customize voice directions which can also be shared with family and friends."

Because it is more a GPS with phone capabilities than anything else, the device will come with a charging window and a dashboard mount for the car.

There was no word on price or an exact release date but expect it before the end of May.

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Blizzard has announced today that they have removed 320,000 "cheaters" from Battle.net, shutting down the accounts of those playing Warcraft III and Diablo II and using hacks.

A first time ban gets your account suspended for 30 days, and a second time offender will be banned for good.

"We would like all players to remember that abuse of unintended mechanics and/or use of third party programs is a violation of the agreement made when signing on to Battle.net, and can subject your account to disciplinary action up to and including a permanent ban of its access to the service," says the Blizzard forum post. "These types of activities can severely impact the stability of our servers, and we'll continue to aggressively monitor Battle.net in order to protect the service and its players from the harmful effects of cheating."

The account closures are final, and the company says most of those banned were first reported by legitimate users who emailed the company claiming those users were cheating.

The company says if you know of any other cheaters or sites responsible for distributing hacks, email them at hacks@blizzard.com.

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YouTube has opened their video rental store today, offering up movies and TV episodes for .99 to $3.99.

The rentals last for 48 hours and to buy them all you need is a Google Checkout account.

There aren't any big names movies so far, with most of the current catalog being independent, Bollywood, Manga and documentaries.

In February, YouTube expanded the store from just Sundance films, but the catalog is still small.

You can check the Store here: http://www.youtube.com/store

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Nokia reported today that their smartphone business saw strong growth, shipping 21.5 million units in the Q1 2010, a 57 percent jump year-on-year.

That number is expected to give Nokia a 41 percent share of the global smartphone market.

Overall mobile phone shipments grew 16 percent to 107.8 million which helped Nokia boost its quarterly profit 60 percent year-on-year.

Apple, on the other hand, saw 131 percent growth in the quarter, thanks to strong sales in China of the iPhone.

Nokia says the entire smartphone industry will continue to grow 10 percent in 2010, but the company says its share of the market will remain flat. Says CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo: Nokia faces "tough competition with respect to the high end of our mobile device portfolio."

The smartphone maker's new operating system, Symbian^3, has been delayed until the summer.

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DaringFireball's John Gruber, known for his top connections inside Apple, says that the prototype "iPhone HD" revealed by Gizmodo earlier this week is very close to the final product, and may even be the final design.

The barcode on the back shows the label N90_DVT_GE4X_0493, with n90 known internally as the codename for the upcoming iPhone, and DVT standing for Design Verification Test, a unit only made "very late" into the development of a new product.

Gruber adds that the company has told him there will likely be only minor changes to the final design, so the phone lost in a bar last week is likely the iPhone 4G/HD as we know it.

New to the "iPhone HD," are a front-facing camera for video conferencing, a better standard camera (including larger lens and flash), a Micro-SIM slot (just like the iPad), 960x640 resolution, a second mic, metallic exterior (not plastic) and split side buttons for volume.

The form factor is very different as well. The back is flat and not rounded, slightly smaller screen, a more "square" design all around with less wasted space, a larger battery, and smaller internal components.

Gray Powell, the designer who lost the phone, was one of a few developers that was given the prototype to test "real-world conditions."

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Engadget has leaked four new Dell smartphones, Lightning, Thunder, Smoke and Flash, four high-end phones that will use Android or Windows Phone 7 as their operating systems.

First off is the Lightning:


The phones uses Windows Phone 7, has a large 4.1-inch OLED screen, a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, a full QWERTY keypad, 512MB RAM, 1GB ROM, 8GB of internal storage for music, movies, etc, a 5MP camera with LED flash, and Adobe Flash, DivX and Microsoft Silverlight support.

The phone will be available before Christmas for GSM carriers AT&T and T-Mobile.

Second is the Thunder:


The Thunder, which will also come out before Christmas and has a 4.1" WVGA OLED display. The phone has a 8MP autofocus camera, runs Android 2.1 with a custom Dell UI on top, and will also be one of the first phones to have a built-in Hulu app. The phone will also have Swype, the speed texting input software. Flash 10 support is fully built-in as well.

Thirdly is the Dell Smoke:


The Smoke is a thin slider phone with a full QWERTY keypad, and will run Android 2.2, the first phone to have the upcoming firmware noted in its specs. The processor is a pretty powerful 800 MHz Qualcomm MSM7230.

Additionally, the Smoke has a 5MP camera, 14.4Mbps HSPA support, a microSD slot, Bluetooth 2.1, Wi-Fi support and EDR. There is a second microphone for noise cancellation.

User wanting to smoke will need to wait until Q2 2011.

Finally is the Flash:


The Flash is another "candybar" design, that will run Android 2.2, with custom Dell UI on top. 3.5-inch WVGA TFT display, a 800MHz Qualcomm processor, 512MB of RAM, MicroSDXC support, Flash 10 support, a 5MP autofocus camera with LED flash, quad-band GSM/EDGE, 3G with HSPA support, Wi-Fi with DLNA, Bluetooth 3.0 and a TV-out.

The design is made of curved glass and is only 11 mm thick.

The smartphone should be available in Q1 2011.

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If multiple reports are correct, it appears that Apple is considering acquiring ARM Holdings for $8 billion USD.

ARM is the company behind the processors in most of the world's current smartphones, including the iPhone.

The latest rumor comes via the London Evening Standard, which says Apple is looking to purchase ARM for 5.2 billion pounds, the equivalent of about $8 billion USD.

Although this is still speculation, Apple has over $25 billion in cash reserves and no debt, meaning the deal could be completed easily.

The move would have two positives for Apple. They would bring chip technology in-house, allowing for more "Apple-ized" processors, and secondly, Apple could potentially block ARM processors from being used in rival smartphones, such as those made by HTC with the Android OS.

The second "positive" may never come to fruition, given the notoriously strict nature of European anti-trust regulators, but it still a possibility.

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Hulu, one of the most popular video streaming sites in America has announced it will begin testing a $10 per month premium subscription starting on May 24th.

The service, called Hulu Plus, will allow users to watch additional episodes than those that are currently made available to free users. Free users can, for the most part, watch the last five episodes of a current season of a show.

News Corp., NBCU and Disney, the three media giants behind the streaming site say Hulu has been profitable for two quarters now, with over $100 million in revenue coming from advertisers. Of course $100 million is a drop in the bucket compared to profits from "traditional media" outlets.

On top of the subscription model, Hulu is expected to eventually add as many commercial breaks as current TV has, 9 minutes for every 21 minutes of programming.

Despite being the second most popular streaming video site behind YouTube, Nielsen Online reports that unique viewership has almost flatlined, still growing but barely.

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Sony has announced they will be bringing Major League Baseball to the PS3, in one of the biggest streaming deals announced in the history of the console.

Peter Dille, senior vice president of Sony Computer Entertainment America, agrees: "This is one of the biggest deals we're bringing to the PS3, and it won't be the last one, there's lots of conversations going on."

The games will be broadcast in 720p HD through MLB.TV, which costs $25 a month or $120 a year for a subscription.

The PS3 will get a custom MLB.TV interface which allows users to scroll through live games or archived games. You can also pause, rewind and jump forward during games, just as if it had been recorded with a DVR.

Notably, due to "blackout rules," users cannot watch their own local market teams.

"We're excited about bringing MLB onto the console ... this is something you can't find on any other console," Dille continues, via Reuters.

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