Beta 4 or 5A258f - call it as the coder inside you would, but Apple's fourth build for the iPhone SDK Beta rolled out today. It's reportedly coming out with a plethora of tools, samples, frameworks - some that were present in the previous builds. But most importantly, SDK Beta 4 updates the simulator formerly known as Aspen with Open GL ES support. Find out more on this update at the full story.

They say a picture paints a thousand words. What more will you do if a picture makes you feel you're actually part of it? Marco Giorgini's homebrew application CubeWorld for the Apple iPhone allows you to scroll and zoom around a 360-degree panoramic image. And it's for free! More details after the jump.

Wondering just when you'll be playing retail games on your Apple iPhone? Then wonder no more, as this update straight from Gameloft, we get a confirmation that yes, they'll be developing games for the iPhone and they have no less than 15 planned games for 2008. That's fifteen titles right out of the gates, and knowing Gameloft, each one will definitely be awesome. Check out the full article for all the info.

Apple's ticket into the handheld gaming scene successfully impressed crowds when the company unveiled three new games running on the iPhone. With OpenGL and OpenAL support together with the accelerometer, high quality motion-based games were proven to be possible on the platform. Make your to the full article to see what games Apple has in store.

After Apple held it in for long enough, everyone finally had the chance to see the newly-unveiled iPhone SDK in action. The demonstration of the new development package was held at the company's Cupertino campus and showed off how far the SDK could push the iPhone's capabilities. For more details, check out the full article.

Just because global warming is an inconvenient truth doesn't mean learning about it has to be an inconvenient bore. French independent game and software developer Midori has just announced the release of its new game, titled Global Warming.

This game will put players behind the control of one of several characters, as a landfill is about to be set up beside their home.

Players must find a way to save their home from the dump by choosing an action card, which will affect their character's various stats (finances, morale, and health) in the next few rounds. These action cards will further have an effect on the character's surroundings (C02 emissions, waste, chemicals, etc). Further adding to unpredictability are the appearance of "accident cards,"  which randomly occur to add a degree of complexity to gameplay.

Global Warming runs under the Phelios game engine (PTK), and is compatible with both Mac OS X (10.3.9 or higher), and Windows (95/98/ME/2000/XP/Vista) OS. Here are the technical requirements:

• 512 MB of RAM
• 450 Mhz Processor
• 3D openGL video card

A free game demo should be available for download over at the Midori site (read link). Or if you're interested, the game's full version can also be purchased and downloaded for US$ 9.95.

We're not one to pull the Apple fan's leg here, so we're just going to go out on a limb and say that we're kind of skeptical about this leakage. While the document itself actually highlights very interesting features of a possible phone, the name Apple Computer, Inc. hasn't been used for quite a while. Apple goes by Apple, Inc. now, as registered in NASDAQ (NASDAQ key: AAPL).

But in credibility of the document, there are a lot of interesting things that can be derived. First and foremost is the name Aloha OS X, which this document illustrates the architecture of. "Aloha" is a trademark by Apple in Hong Kong that has links to the iPhone that is under development. Let's get the other details from what we could derive from this so-called "confidential document" from "Apple Computer, Inc.":

• WebKit Module, Apple80211: surf, chat, e-mail features seems to be covered here
• Sync Services, Core Audio: music playing capabilities and music file syncing
• Core Video, Codecs: video playing capabilities, probable video recording capabilities
• GamesEmulator.app, OpenGL, GPU: if it's OpenGL 1.2, then games played on this puppy phone are "hawt"
• Onyx: "OMG" doesn't even begin to cover this part; next-gen mobile and VoIP services soon to come

The most interesting points are the GPU and the integration of Synaptics' next-generation mobile phone concept, called Onyx (not OnyX, although we could be mistaken and "Onyx" is a typo). These both highlight that the "device" is being ambitiously developed for the new age of telecommunications and mobile lifestyles.

But whether these features will actually make it to the iPhone by June 11 remains a mystery until the next official announcement. You could say that the document could be representing the Apple's iPhone after all. Imagine if Sony gets their hands on this document...

This is weird but this thought had been bugging me for days: Why Apple haven't joined the console war? Or even the serious gaming industry for that matter? Sure Mac is not as popular around here as Windows but it provides serious competition. We all know how Microsoft got started, anyway. Nintendo and Sony were slugging it out and then Microsoft thought, "why not join in the fun?"

Given that, I couldn't help it but look at one of Apple's strongest product now: the iPod. Well, in case you've been living under gigantic stereo for some time now, the iPod comes in with a few simple games like Breakout, Parachute and Solitaire. Those certainly are not PSP and DS toppling games but that would be a good place to start.

I admit that I'm not familiar with most Mac games (Diablo Forever!) but a quick glance at its latest system MAC OS X (OpenGL and various Core technologies) and you'll know that there is a strong technological foundation. Proof of this is the recently announced Project Alky from Falling Leaf Systems that promises to bring high quality Windows games to Mac OS X and Linux operating systems.

Without a doubt, Apple has the financial and technological capacity to enter into this arena. The big question now is, what are they waiting for?