Doesn't matter whether you're a Republicrat or a Demublican, or if you're blue, red, or purple. If you've got an interest in World Events, the US iTunes stores has all the speeches from the recent American conventions -- from both sides of the aisle.

The speeches and video highlights are free and available as podcasts for your delectation (and bonus raised blood pressure, where applicable).

Pretty much everyone wants the same good things for the US and the world. Let these speeches help you decide which side can get you there.

Thanks, Gordon Werner

Kevin Rose is at it again, with a brand new round of rumors about iTunes 8, supposedly premiered next week at the big Apple iPod event. Did I miss the meeting where we all declared him king of iPod rumors? King or not, he's got what he claims is inside information, including a writeup about something called the "Genius" sidebar, which creates recommended playlists for you, a new grid view (like Delicious Library?), and a new music visualizer.

Additionally, Rose's tipster mentions HD TV shows in the iTMS, and reiterates the previous rumors of new IPod nanos and Touches. None of these things are a huge surprise -- while the Genuis system will certainly be interesting to see (and make fun of) if real, HDTV and the new iPods are old news in Rumorville by now.

Is it OK if we hope for some faster and easier iPhone syncing with a new version of iTunes as well? Whatever is coming next week, we'll find out all about it then.

Here's something to look forward to. The band Snow Patrol have announced the pending release of their first "interactive album," A Hundred Million Suns, for iPhone and iPod touch via the iTunes Store.

So what's "interactive" about it? According to the band, users will be able to access content like lyrics, additional images and artwork plus video from the iPhone and iPod's touchscreen. The album's project manager called it "...a digital booklet that will take you into the videos and content."

Sounds like a fun way for musical artists to take advantage of touch technology. Expect A Hundred Million Suns to be released in October.

[Via Steve Rubel]

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the sorry state of global search in iTunes. Basically, the iTunes Store has grown so large that it's difficult to find what you're after. Type something into the search field and you'll see results for albums, podcasts, movies, TV season, apps and more. Stop the insanity!

iphonexe is offering a solution for the App Store. They've got 3,000 titles sorted by category. Enter the name of your target application and you're brought to a results page with a summary, version number, screenshots and an App Store (sponsored) link.

They've also got a directory of jailbroken apps which works the same way. It's not the solution I'm looking for, but does limit search results to iPhone/iPod touch apps.

[Via MacNN]

The government of China has blocked access to the entirety of the iTunes store, and the publishers of a single new Tibet-themed album are claiming responsibility.

The album, Songs for Tibet [iTunes link], is a compilation of music by Sting, Alanis Morissette, Garbage and others, plus a 15-minute lecture by the Dalai Lama. The album is being released by the New York City-based Art of Peace Foundation, whose spokesman Michael Wohl said he believed the album was responsible for the outage, but couldn't prove it.

Wohl said the foundation issued a press release claiming 40 Olympic athletes downloaded the album as a display of solidarity, which he suspects triggered the shutdown.

Apple acknowledged that they are "aware of the log-on problems," but wouldn't say how many customers were affected nor comment further. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which regulates Internet use in China, did not comment either.

[Via the Associated Press.]

By definition, nearly all tips we receive about Apple future product intros are wrong. After all, we're not Engadget. People aren't going to risk their jobs to deliver insider information.

That being said, a tip that shot into our mailbox this morning really tickled my fancy: not because I think it's accurate but because I really really want it to be true. Our anonymous tipster laid out a description for iTunes Unlimited that I thought was brilliant. Although this guy (by definition) does not work for Apple, he really ought to.

He suggested that the late September Apple event would introduce several great items that we'd love to see but haven't been holding our breath for. These are disk access for the iPhone and iPod Touch and iTunes Unlimited.

His take on iTunes Unlimited goes as such: For just $129.99 (or $179.99 bundled with MobileMe, or $99 for current MobileMe subscriptions), you would buy unlimited music access for one year. This would offer you 256 Kbps music, or as Steve would boom it, "The highest quality digital music subscription service ever." You could download and play directly on your computer or iPhone/iPod and the option to "buy and keep" would replace the subscription version of a song with a downloaded version.

I totally love this idea. It's not the first iTunes subscription rumor we've heard, either. I'm not betting that would happen. But it brought a huge smile to my morning. What do you think of iTunes Unlimited? If it were available, would you buy it?

Thanks, extremely creative anonymous tipster

Chef: "You've got to hold the [iPhone] like you would hold your lover. Gently, yet firmly."

Legendary entertainer Isaac Hayes has passed on, but iTunes remembers him with this tribute page that highlights his amazing music career. Of course for many of us, it wasn't just his musical legacy but his beloved TV performances that endeared him to our memories. RIP, Isaac.

They may be first to see the sun, but they've been waiting quite a while for movie rentals and purchases from the iTunes store -- now that patience has paid off, as movies have now arrived in a land down under. Aussie and Kiwi iTunes users can purchase and rent movies to their hearts' content. New releases on DVD will premiere day-and-date on the iTunes store at the same time as they're on sale in physical form in the two new countries of service.

iTunes movie purchases in Australia will kick off the price tier at A$9.99 for catalog titles, A$17.99 for recent releases and A$24.99 for new releases; rentals will be A$3.99 for library title rentals and A$5.99 for new releases. iTunes movies in New Zealand start at NZ$9.99 for catalog title purchases, NZ$17.99 for recent releases and NZ$24.99 for new releases, rentals are NZ$4.99 for library titles / NZ$6.99 for new releases. As in the US store, getting the high-def version costs an additional dollar. Rentals can be held for 30 days before you start watching and then you have 48 hours to finish (a whole day longer than US customers? Must be the International Date Line).

Thanks to everyone who sent this in

Look Dougal, we've done it!

Done what, Ted?

We're on iTunes, Dougal! In the UK store! Look at all the happy people waving at us! Wave back!

What people are you talking about, Ted?

The people out there with their Apple Macs.

It's not even raining, Ted.

Just shut up and wave, Dougal!

Are you imagining things again, Ted?

What do you mean, Dougal? When have I ever imagined things? I'm very rational, you know.

Well there was that time with that money...

It was just resting in my account, Dougal, I've told you before...

(Addendum, for the mystified: Father Ted was a hugely successful 1990s sitcom, broadcast by the UK's Channel 4, about three mad Catholic priests and their equally insane housekeeper, all living in peaceful chaos on a remote Irish island. If you've never heard of it before, just move on to the next TUAW post and pretend this one never happened. Any further questions will be answered by Father Jack: "That would be an ecumenical matter!")

For the past year when it comes to the iPhone, us Canadians have had to watch enviously as our American neighbors got to have all the fun. Well, no more! As of today I have joined the ranks of the enlightened -- at least, my wallet has been "lightened".

I am, like many of you, a software junkie. As such, one of things I am really excited about is the App Store. Imagine my surprise today when I tried to access it from my gleaming new device, only to run into an error message when I attempted to download my first app. The error stated "Your account is only valid for purchases in the Canadian iTunes Store." Huh?

My first thought was, "this darn thing has GPS on it, doesn't it know I'm in Canada?" So I went looking in the international settings on the phone, and sure enough the region format was set to United States. I dutifully changed it to Canada and tried again, to be met again with the same error.

At this point I should mention that I had, up until this point, not synchronized my iPhone with iTunes. I had not planned to, since my MacBook Pro is currently down for the count with a dead video card, and it will be a week before the Apple Store has one in stock to repair my machine.

Frustrated by my inability to download apps, I finally threw caution to the wind and synchronized my new iPhone with a newly downloaded copy of iTunes on the Windows desktop I am relegated to using while waiting for my laptop to be repaired. Unfortunately, I still had no luck.

Then it occurred to me to log into the iTunes Store in iTunes using my account. It was at this stage that iTunes informed me that I was viewing the wrong store, and transferred me over to the Canadian iTunes Store. One more synchronization of the iPhone was needed to transfer my iTunes Store credentials into the phone, and I was finally able to waste untold hours downloading applications.

I imagine this tip will apply to almost nobody, but here's hoping that if there's someone else out there that is so dazzled by the iPhone that they are unable to think coherently, as I was, that they will find in this post the help and understanding that they so desperately need. Or something like that.

As the iTunes Store has grown, its search feature hasn't. Enter a bit of text in the search field, and you get results for

1. Albums
2. Podcasts
3. Movies
4. TV seasons
5. Music videos
6. iTunes Essentials
7. iTunes U
8. Apps

The results were manageable when we were just browsing music, television and movies. Today, it's just too large. Even some of the sub-categories are getting crowded. Recently, the App store was receiving a lot of eBooks from AppEngines. Earlier this week, a "Books" section was added to the App Store.

That's a good step, but I'd like to be able to filter results before execution. For example, an App Store search, a music search or podcasts. iTunes Power Search [link] does this pretty well, but I'd bet that most users don't use it. This ought to be the default search procedure.

Of course, I'm old and crotchety, so take this with a gain of iSalt.

Thanks to Matt for the eBook App Store tip!

Once again, TUAW is pleased to present you with a selection of free songs and videos from around the world. Many of these iTMS items won't be free for long, so grab your copies before the week is up. And don't forget: If you want to buy these on your iPhone or iPod touch, make sure to sign into your account in iTunes before you sync.

Follow the jump for all the iTune freebie goodness -- and don't forget. It's Dr. Horrible time! (Thanks Eric G.) Not free -- but it's Whedon!

CIO.com interviewed AT&T spokesperson Mark Siegel, who confirmed that Friday's activation server outage was due to massive worldwide demand. This may not come as a surprise, but it's the only official comment we've heard.

"The iTunes software appeared to have been so overwhelmed by demand [Friday] that customers were not able to go through that final stage and sync their iPhones," Siegel said.

Apple has not commented on their servers' performance on Friday. Nor have we learned any more about the other great mystery: the details behind the rocky MobileMe transition that lasted Wednesday through the weekend.

The CIO article also discusses Apple's physical supply chain for the iPhone 3G, and how it performed for the rollout. Analyst consensus: top notch. "Good job to Apple for mastering the physical supply chain so well that you have this high-profile launch and your problems are not on the physical side -- you have product in stock," said Kevin O'Marah, chief strategy officer at AMR Research.

[Via Reddit.]

Well, I'm back home after five hours in line at the Apple Store, less $389.98 (I bought AppleCare and a 16GB iPhone 3G). What do I have to show for it?

As of 1:00 PM MDT, everything is suddenly working. I have an iPhone 3G, although I've now discovered that I don't have 3G service at my home despite the AT&T coverage map showing that I do. My old iPhone is no longer sending or receiving phone calls, but at least I can use it as an iPod touch over Wi-Fi.

Read after the break for a recap of my morning:

The App Store has been accessible for awhile now, but it is now official. Fire up your copy of iTunes and you'll be greeted with a new addition to the left hand navigation: App Store. As with the other sections of the iTunes Store you'll find a number of sections: New Apps, Top Apps, Top Free Apps, and more.

The iPhone 2.0 firmware hasn't been released as of yet, but browsing the App Store should keep your mind off that for a little while.

What is the first app you're going to download?

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.