The App Rejections site should help app developers better understand why certain apps were rejected, thereby avoiding those mistakes themselves. The site is set up as a simple blog and is therefore easy to read and follow.

Adam Martin, the site’s author, occasionally infuses his insights into the posts, providing some of his personal opinions and theories regarding Apple’s review process.

ReadWriteWeb reports that the blog’s purpose is to explain exactly why particular applications have been rejected. Posts examine information regarding API‘s (Application Programming Interface) used or rules broken for example. The site is also useful because it reviews apps that had been previously rejected but later make it into Apple’s App Store. These posts are entitled “approved” or “overturned” (overturned refers when an app went through some sort of appeal process brought by its developer).

As the site catches on, perhaps Apple will, too, make it easier for developers to understand their review process. In the meantime, this site is a great utility for other developers to gain some insight that they would not ordinarily be able to obtain.

If a developer wishes to have his or her experience with Apple documented on App Rejections, Martin can be contacted through his company’s Twitter account, redglassesapps.

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Finland recently became the first country to declare that access to broadband Internet is much more than a mere privilege; it is a right.

CNN.com reports:

“Starting in July, telecommunication companies in the northern European nation will be required to provide all 5.2 million citizens with Internet connection that runs at speeds of at least 1 megabit per second.”

Finland’s Ministry of Transport and Communications says that 1 megabit per second is just the beginning.  The goal is to increase the speed to 100 megabit per second speeds for everyone by the year 2015.

Other countries such as France are restricting Internet use under certain circumstances.  In an attempt to reduce piracy, the French Parliament approved a bill that aims to take away Internet access for third-time offenders, the University of Pittsburgh’s Jurist reported in September.

The U.S. faces similar piracy issues to those of France while simultaneously looking to improve access.  Therefore, our country is reaching an important crossroads in which a public policy line must be drawn between protection and availability.

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As of now, iPhone users cannot take advantage of one of Google’s latest innovations, Google Voice. It takes advantage of the company’s online computing and extensive network. Customers can consolidate their home, office and cellphone numbers into one Google number. The account provides free calls in the United States, plus voice mail in audio and text formats.

Apple did not like what it saw and in July blocked Google Voice software from its iPhone app store.   The FCC took notice and began probing the dispute, as  Mark Milian of the Los Angeles Times reports:

“Apple has said it has reservations about the application’s interface and is still considering it for approval. AT&T said it was not involved in that decision.”

AT&T did not stay neutral for very long. The company complained to the FCC that Google was selectively blocking some calls on its U.S. voice service . AT&T claims that Google Voice refuses to connect calls to rural communities where local telephone companies charge more for a connection. The FCC is looking into these allegations as well.

Joelle Tessler of the Huffington Post chronicles the tiff, writing:

“Google Voice ‘has claimed for itself a significant advantage over providers offering competing services,’ AT&T said in a letter to the FCC last month. Those concerns were echoed in a letter sent to the FCC this week by 20 members of Congress who represent rural districts.”

AT&T’s complaint dovetails with an FCC vote Oct. 22 on a network neutrality proposal; it  would prohibit owners of broadband networks from setting selective speeds for traffic, writes Tessler.

“That proposal has pitted Google and other Internet companies that support net neutrality against the big phone and cable companies, including AT&T, that want to be free of restrictions on what they can do with their networks.”

Will the FCC sort out the differences or will the three companies head to court? The future of AT&T and Apple’s relationship with Google shows no signs of improving.  The market, not a judge, may decide the issue, though. If the Google Voice app is forever blocked on the iPhone, other carriers and phone makers could take advantage of Google’s game-changing application.

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