Want to get your hands on an iOS 4-equipped device now without being a registered Apple developer? As a number of readers have pointed out, it seems yesterday's gold build release works on any applicable iPhone / iPod touch whether or not its UDID has been sent to the dev center. Now that the previous restraint has been lifted, the only requirement now is a copy of iTunes 9.2 — currently for Macs only and still blocked by the developer gate, but once you manage to obtain the appropriate files, the only thing in your path is time itself. Sure enough, we just got through installing the build on an unregistered iPhone without a hitch. Details available via Gumball Tech, and please, don't forget to back up your data ahead of time.

In less rule-abiding news, the not-quite-surgical hand of the jailbreak community has taken a gander at the gold. A developer known as msft.guy, whose previous credentials includes recently-released binary “which enabled blacksn0w unlock port for iPhone 3GS on iOS 4 Beta 4″ according to Redmond Pie, has updated PwnageTool for yesterday's update. As always, proceed with that one at your own risk, and if you're curious but hesitant, the ever-reliable iPhone Dev Team promise a full jailbreak / unlock suite later this month. Either way, video proof is available after the break.

Update: Just to clarify, iOS 4 now works with any iPhone / iPod touch that's already been proven compatible — the trick here is that you now don't need to register with Apple before trying.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Apple on Tuesday officially kicked off its 2010 back-to-school promotion, an annual sale where students and school faculty can buy a Mac with education pricing and get a free 8GB iPod touch, a device that now costs $199.

Shoppers can save $50 on a low-end MacBook, up to $200 on a MacBook Pro, $100 on a MacBook Air, and up to $100 on an iMac desktop when purchased with an education discount through the Apple Store. Each new Mac comes with a free 8GB iPod touch, a $199 value — less than the hardware has cost during previous promotions. The $949 education price for the low-end MacBook is also higher than in years past.

The deal applies to new Macs bought with education pricing between May 25 and Sept. 7, 2010. Users will receive an online rebate for up to $199 in compensation for the second-generation 8GB iPod touch. Customers must submit their claim online within 90 days from when the order ships to be issued a rebate for the iPod touch.

Alternatively, customers can also receive $199 off a higher-capacity iPod touch or the 160GB iPod classic, $179 off a 16GB iPod nano, $149 off the 8GB iPod nano, a $99 discount for the stainless steel 4GB iPod shuffle, and $79 off the regular 4GB iPod shuffle.

Shoppers can buy through an Apple online store for education, retail store, authorized campus store, or call 1-800-MY-APPLE. Education discounts are available to faculty and staff of K-12 schools, as well as college students, professors, faculty and staff.

“Take a free 8GB iPod touch to school,” Apple's promotional page reads. “Along with tons of other great features, iPod touch has built-in Wi-Fi for downloading thousands of games, movies, songs, apps, and amazing, free educational content from iTunes U.”

Apple kicked off its back to school promo in late May in 2009, giving away an 8GB iPod touch that then cost $229. In 2008, the sale began in early June, when the 8GB iPod touch cost $299. As is the case this year, customers could also receive a rebate toward the purchase of other iPod models as well.

• Sculptor Adam Reeder won the first place prize in The San Francisco Academy of Art University's Annual Spring Show for this bronze sculpture depicting a music-loving Pan with an iPod. Pan was Part of a series that also featured gods like Atlas and Zeus with an iPod or an iPhone. Reeder's motivation was to remind the viewer what was being consumed in popular culture: “This work is not about consumerism, or commercialism. Rather it is about how technology changes the way in which Western culture interacts with its world,” Reeder wrote of the designs.
• This portrait of Apple boss Steve Jobs is made up entirely of text, and more specifically fonts that Apple uses within its products and in its branding (such as Motter Tektura, Apple Garamond, Myriad, Univers, Gill Sans, and Volkswagen AG Rounded) while the actual words are taken from Apple's popular “Think Different” advertising campaign (“Here's to the crazy ones… etc”) of the late 90s. The artist who created the work, Dylan Roscover, describes it as a “typeface-driven design” and offers a larger version on his site so you can see the detail, even down to the glints in Jobs' eyes.
• Indiana-based Gautam Rao — self-styled “Playful Painter” — has used the Mac and iPods as subjects for many oil paintings. His works range from recreations of Apple icons (as per the main image at the top of the page), the still-life of an iPod shown directly above, and even a self portrait where Rao can be seen in the webcam window on a Mac screen — an interesting, modern take on the format.
• Kosuke Tsumura, the Japanese artist and fashion designer behind the Final Home label, used iPods, as well as mice, keyboards and lots and lots of cables in a Tokyo exhibition entitled MODE less CODE . In addition to an eco message (the materials used were all destined to be industrial waste), Tsumura has used traditional craft techniques to weave the modern items together, juxtaposing old and new.
• Digital artist Artie Vierkant took elements found in the Mac operating system's user interface, like the “OK” button and program windows. Vierkant made enormous prints replicating the icons over and over again, challenging the conception of what art takes as its subject matter. The image above is a detail from the 65-inch-high original displayed at the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art under the title “Framing Exercise.”
• Rather than be inspired by Apple products, British artist David Hockney uses them to create art. In interviews with the London Evening Standard in recent years, Hockney praised first the iPhone (“BlackBerries are for secretaries and clerical workers while the iPhone is used by artistic people”) even going so far as to place his on a mini wooden easel (as per the Evening Standard photo above). He then became a fan of the iPad (“What makes the iPad better than the iPhone is its larger size.”). A recent Hockney exhibition entitled “Drawing in a Printing Machine” consisted of artworks created with pixels, rather than paint, showing the 70-odd-year-old artist is not afraid of getting hands-on with modern tech.

The early success of the iPad has brought smiles to the faces of not just Apple investors, but also commercial content providers. In the first two weeks of release, ABC saw its iPad app downloaded more than 200,000 times and streamed more than 650,000 TV episodes on it.

Other networks, like CBS, are also embracing the iPad by offering support for HTML5 video for certain programs. I had the opportunity to speak to Anthony Soohoo, senior VP and general manager of CBS Interactive, about CBS’s plans for the iPad, HTML5 and the future of web video.

While the iPad and big commercial content distributors are often discussed in the context of publishers, broadcasters are equally excited about the opportunities that the device and others like it. Mr. Soohoo told me that CBS sees the iPad as potentially opening a door to a new device category that can change how users consume media and entertainment.

CBS Loves the iPad

Mr. Soohoo said that CBS is really excited about the iPad because it is a personal, interactive and ultimately mobile device that the company believes can help it better connect with viewers. It goes hand-in-hand with CBS’s “TV Everywhere” strategy that aims to make content accessible to viewers from wherever they are.

This is why CBS thinks the iPad is different from other devices that have come before it:

• It’s instant on – You don’t have to wait for the computer to boot up, you don’t have to mess with a different set-top box, you can just grab the iPad, press the home screen button and go. This makes it a better option for watching television, getting additional information about a show or actor or communicating with others about a show.
• It’s mobile – Comparing the iPad to the transistor radio, Mr. Soohoo noted that the iPad is a television that can be carried from place to place in a way that other devices with its level of viewing experience just cannot.
• It’s interactive and personal – CBS sees lots of opportunities for its advertising partners in conjunction with the iPad. The interactive, contextual and personal experience of the product means that advertising can go beyond just commercials and be more targeted, more compelling to viewers and ultimately more successful for advertisers.

Another aspect of the iPad that stands out for CBS is that the user base is already at one million. That’s important for a content company as large as CBS because while there are other interactive TV initiatives — like Roku, Boxee and others — those products haven’t achieved the reach that the iPad has.

That isn’t to say that CBS won’t be looking at these sorts of technologies and products in the future, but a reason that the company is so excited about the iPad is because it has already struck a chord with consumers.

CBS on the iPad Now and in the Future

Right now, CBS.com has only limited iPad support. A few shows like Survivor have been converted to HTML5 and can be played on the iPad, but most of its catalog is still Flash-only.

Mr. Soohoo told me that CBS’s take on the whole Adobe-Apple dispute is that it wants to evaluate both platforms fully before choosing one over the other. To that end, CBS wants to support both formats to better serve its viewers.

CBS is currently working on converting the rest of its catalog to HTML5 and plans to have its HTML5 offerings at parity with its Flash offerings by the start of the fall TV season.

Additionally, Mr. Soohoo told me that CBS plans to release an iPad app but that it first wants to make sure that the amount of content available is roughly equivalent to the amount available on the desktop version of the site. Other CBS Interactive properties like TV.com are also expected to become a more integrated part of the iPad experience.

Live Content?

While more and more commercial content providers are offering up their content to users on the web, live content is still on the periphery, usually relegated to special events or to sports. I asked Mr. Soohoo about CBS’s plans to bring live content to the iPad and he explained that while CBS is evaluating its options, it doesn’t have any plans to bring live broadcasts en masse to the web or the iPad.

That said, Mr. Soohoo did point out that CBS has had a lot of success in connecting with users via the website in tandem with what is airing on TV. The live viewer vote for the song Bon Jovi played at the Grammy Awards this past March was one example. Another was a special live feed of a performance Paul McCartney played for David Letterman; the website carried live access to an extended set that it couldn’t broadcast on the regular show due to time restrictions.

CBS already sees a large number of its audience members interacting online while watching live broadcast television and it expects iPad owners to embrace that activity even more. So we can’t expect live live feeds yet, but we can expect interaction during real-time broadcasts.

Prepare for Fall

Throughout the summer, more content will be available on the iPad, but the big push will come in time for the fall season.

We expect that CBS won’t be alone in its active embrace of the iPad and HTML5 video; we’re sure that other networks like ABC, Fox and NBC will be either announcing or expanding their strategies in this arena as well.

Broadcasters have traditionally been slow to embrace new technologies — consider that Hulu didn’t appear until October of 2007 — but in this next generation of online content, fueled by mobile platforms and devices like the iPad, content publishers are hitting the road running.

What do you think about CBS’s plans for the iPad and HTML5? Let us know.

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iPad News: Apple iPad, and iPad 3G, Outselling Macs

Apple’s iPad is without a doubt the hottest product in the tech market at the moment. In fact, Apple’s iPad is so hot that there are iPad supply shortages here in the United States. These iPad supply shortages stem from Apple falling short of their demand projections – meaning, Apple simply didn’t expect to be selling iPad in such massive numbers like they’ve been doing since the iPad release date here in the US.

iPad Outselling Macs

One of the more amazing statistics to emerge since the release of the iPad and iPad 3G is that the Apple is actually selling more iPads than they are Macs. Macs are literally the cornerstone (or have been anyway) to the Apple dynasty, and yet now we have iPads actually outselling the Macs.

According to All Things Digital, Apple is selling more than 200,000 iPads per week. Which means, according to RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky, that sales of the company’s new device have outpaced those of the Mac in the United States and are closing in on those of the iPhone 3GS.

“Checks indicate that US iPad sales remain strong post-launch, driven by rising consumer visibility to iPad’s user experience, sustained PR/word-of-mouth marketing, 3G iPad launch, and broadening iPad apps/content,” Abramsky wrote in a note to clients this morning. “We believe Apple is now selling >200k iPads/week, greater than US Macs (est. 110k Macs/week) and just below US iPhone 3GS first quart (246k/week).”

iPad hasn’t even launched internationally yet

Even more amazing is that the iPad doesn’t get released internationally until May 28th – about 7 days from now. The international community has been “very impatiently” waiting for Apple to fix their supply side issues with the iPad so they can get their hands on the new iPad and iPad 3G.

Although at this point, I can’t image the international community not wanting to go right to an iPad 3G versus the first generation iPad that is only Internet accessible via WiFi hotspots.

So what can we expect to Apple’s sales figures once the iPad and iPad 3G are launched internationally?

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Here are cool iPhone Tipps / Tricks, take a look.