The biggest addition is that it's web based. That's right, Android users. A store that's easily browsable on the desktop. Not to mention an application for desktop app management.

So that's all well and good, but why does Motorola have to even build a separate portal? This is all stuff that Google should really be on top of if they want to really win consumers over. The last thing that anyone wants is to have the Android Marketplace start getting segmented by manufacturer, so please Google, whenever you're done building your phone, add this stuff in to save us all the trouble. [Android and Me via Engadget]

Apple Said to Be Bullying, Giving Wedgies to Flash Memory Makers

Anyone surprised that Apple's been accused of practicing some, shall we say, Machiavellian business tactics? The Korea Times published a story in which anonymous representatives of Apple's major flash memory partners, Hynix and Samsung, accuse Apple of ordering more memory than needed, then buying the necessary (smaller) amount once the price drops due to that whole supply/demand see-saw. It winds up in Remainders because it's awfully insidery, and honestly we're pretty glad flash prices are so cheap (a 64GB iPod Touch would've been unthinkable three years ago). Sorry, Samsung/Hynix! If you just sock Apple one time right in the face, maybe they'll leave you alone. [Electronista]

Legendary German Camera-Maker Launches Really Boring Digital Cameras

Praktica, a camera-maker out of Dresden, Germany (hence the Vonnegut, ha ha aren't we so literary), has the stature of Zeiss and Leica in the film world. Yet the company's new point-and-shoot digital cameras are the more boring, style-less pieces of plastic I've seen in a long time. The 10- and 12-megapixel cameras feature the normal scene modes, SD/HC storage, video recording and either a 2.7- or 3.0-inch screen. They're a snore and a half and it looks like they may be Germany-only, to boot. [Engadget]

ClearPlay's Upscaling 1080p DVD Player Allows High-Definition Censorship

ClearPlay, a company known for implementing "content control" in their DVD players (basically allowing parents to turn off objectionable content), just moved into the future, sort of! It's not a Blu-ray player or a media streamer, that'd be actually timely, but it is an upconverting, 1080p DVD player—the first of its kind to feature content control. It's available now for $100. [Engadget]

Survey of Android App Developers Reveals Unhappiness With Sales

Okay so go find a heaping spoonful of rock salt that you can chew slowly as you read this story, because there are serious issues with it, but: A recent survey of Android app developers showed that the majority are not satisfied with app sales performance in the Marketplace. Most apps (over 90%) are downloaded less than 10,000 times, which is pretty minimal compared to the sales of apps in Apple App Store for Apps (apps).

Now, the rock salt. For a survey like this, you need a wide variety of developers, doing all different kinds of apps (entertainment, utility, whatever), and the survey assuredly doesn't have that—only thirty developers were polled, a low enough number that frankly I don't trust any conclusions gleaned. Besides, of course Android app sales are lower; Android hardware sales are lower, too, and the Marketplace is a lot younger and less-established than the App Store. Basically, I'm not saying it's wrong, but we really can't trust this survey. [GigaOm]

The overall winners: SweetDreams, which allows you to set specific nighttime settings (deflect incoming calls, disable Wi-Fi and GPS to save battery) automatically; What the Doodle?!, which is an online multiplayer game sort of like Pictionary; and WaveSecure, which lets you track your phone's location, backup data, remotely lock the device, remote wipe, and restore data. Those guys aren't super exciting to me, but the competition also resulted in some really cool ones.

Plink Art identifies artwork after you've taken a photo of it, so you can pretend you knew the difference between Monet and Manet the entire time; Celeste gives you an augmented reality view of the solar system; Car Locator remembers where you parked your car; and Andrometer measures the approximate distance from yourself to any object you can see. Check out the full list here. [Google Code]

Also, for T-Mobile customers, there's going to be a direct-to-bill payment option for apps (so it shows up on your phone bill, in other words), so buying apps will be a little simpler.

It's not yet clear if all tethering apps have been pulled from the Marketplace, but a some have—and we know why. Though the developer of Wifi Tether for Root Users—one of the apps that got pulled—doesn't reprint his entire exchange with Google, he tells us that their reasoning invokes T-Mobile's terms of service, which (surprise!) prohibit unofficial tethering.

These actions surely won't sit well with many, but it would have been naive not to expect them, at least a little. For all the "open" trappings of Android, the G1 is still a subsidized phone. Protecting their own interests and arguably counter to the OS's ethos, T-Mobile locked the phone, like all carriers do. Likewise, to capitalize on tethering plans (or alternately, to minimize data traffic) they're now demanding that Google pull apps that endanger their business interests, despite the fact that anyone can just download these same apps independently of the store and install them anyway.

But that's obvious. What's not obvious is why they doing this now, and why they allowed these apps in the first place, setting a precedent for the Marketplace's independence from carriers' dictates that they now have to break, making asses out of everyone involved. [False Dichotomies via Android Community]

Now, the Dev Phone 1 will be able to access the Paid apps in the store, although according to Developer Advocate Dan Morrill, people with this kind of G1s won't be able to install copy-protected apps. The update fixes the alarm clock, Gmail, pop3 email accounts, mail notifications, and maps, as well as adding support for search by voice. [Phandroid]

The problem lies in the phone's full software permissions. Consumer Android phones download paid content to a private, hidden apps folder, inaccessible to the user. Thing is, as is stands, this normally inaccessible folder is accessible on the dev phones. Not only does this let people flat out copy and redistribute apps—it enables a sort of app laundering scam, in which someone buys an app, copies it to another location, and gets a refund for the app (as per the Marketplace's 24-hour return policy), only to reinstall the copied version later.

Right, so Google sort of screwed up on that one. But the consequences will be felt most by the poor saps with the Developer G1s, and even though many of them weren't ever intended to use a dev model, it's a shame. Think about it: the non-developers who paid $400 plus a $25 developer fee just to get their hands on an unlocked G1 are (or, really, were) probably the most loyal devotees that Android has—and now, if they want paid apps, they pretty much have to pirate them. [Macworld]

Network World says 'I Am Richer' is essentially identical to the iPhone app, except it has a blue diamond, and, somewhat ironically, only costs 1/5 the price as its counterpart. So, who's gonna buy? [Network World]

The string of comments following the post indicate that most users won't be able to throw their money at fart apps just yet (there are fart apps, RIGHT!?), but gradual, trickling OTA G1 updates are par for the course. The first (small) batch of apps will look familiar to users of Apple's App Store—Unit converters! Breakout games! One dollar clocks!—though it is conspicuously (and unexpectedly) lacking of any marquee titles. It's far too early to judge, and baby steps are fine, I guess, as long as I know I'm getting my Guitar Hero someday. G1ers, let us know what you find—good and bad—in the comments. [BGR]

Other policies include:

•The Market will allow unlimited reinstalls of purchased apps.
•Upgrades must come directly from the developer.
•Sexually explicit material is banned from the Android Market.
•Billing disputes must be held with the developer or your credit card company.

Much of that information was to be expected, but an app return policy is a really big deal. I can't tell you how much I would love to shove Sim City on the iPhone back in EA's face right now. It's been out for months and they still haven't fixed a bug that causes it to crash on launch for some users. I can only hope that Apple will eventually follow Google's lead on this one. [Android via IntoMobile]

It's really inconvenient I know, because you were totally working on the greatest app ever, and were going to charge $500 for it, but you'll have to find another way to survive. And apparently you can't charge less than $0.99 for an app either, unless you wanna give it away for free. ZOMG! Android is soooooo not open source anymore with all these oppressive rules! [Ars Technica via AndroidCentral via IntoMobile]

Germany, Austria, Netherlands, France and Spain will get the same support later in Q1, and will all be under the same Google Checkout service to handle the money transaction. While paying for apps sucks, the main point is that developers who were holding out from the Marketplace because they couldn't be compensated for their (more costly, more time consuming) work will now finally hop on. Which is good for all Android users. [Android Developers]

The main issue with AndNav2 is availability, as their site lists versions for Germany, France, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Ireland, but not the US. This could be an exclusion based on insufficient mapping data for the country, but in any case there's no reason that you couldn't install the British version and at least try it. The alpha release of AndNav2 is available here.

UPDATE: Nicolas Gramlich, the man behind AndNav, got in touch to let us know why there's no US version: logistics. Opening the app to running routes through North America would require a much larger server than the one they're using right now, for which the developers are trying to secure donations (you know, from you). And honestly, the app is free, so settle down, quit yer whinin', etc. [AndNav via MobilitySite]

Handango claims that they'll have about 100 for-pay apps ready for the G1's October 22nd launch, and that they'll support one-off, monthly and annual billing options. Despite all the fanfare, they haven't announced any of the apps that we'll apparently be so excited to pay for, and I'd imagine most developers will just wait until Google implements their own payment system. But hey, the markets, or something.