A new revolt seems to be brewing against Apple's notoriously murky method of approving apps. Known for its questionable rejections and communication-free delays, the App Store has long come under fire by developers who feel they're being left in the dark. Even the guy behind Facebook's official iPhone app called it quits this month, telling tech blog TechCrunch he was "philosophically opposed to the existence of [Apple's] review process."

Apple Senior VP Phil Schiller defended the app approval process in a story published by BusinessWeek on Sunday, but neither his explanation nor Apple's recent introduction of status updates for developers seems to have calmed the storm. And now, the opposition is about to get even louder.

Way outdone by rivals like Hulu and YouTube, Web video service Joost is now in the throes of winding down, only two-and-a-half years after its rollout with very high hopes by Skype co-founders Janius Friis and Niklas Zennstrom.

Major magazine publishers are uniting to solve that old media dilemma of how to survive new media, rumor has it, and they'll soon be opening a joint storefront to peddle their digital wares. Time, Condé Nast, and Hearst are among the publishers who will participate in this iTunes-style magazine store, according to the Observer, but concrete details are scarce. Here's how I'm hoping it pans out:

Bring it to iTunes

Magazines are sold in grocery stores and bodegas, and even newsstands sell lots of other stuff, so why pen digital magazines into their own marketplace? Make the store an annex of larger, existing digital storefronts. Publishers could still sell digital magazines directly, but their content will be easier to stumble upon in places where people are already shopping.

Are you in the market for a laptop or netbook this holiday season? Then check out the hot deals below. I've scoured the Web looking for the best Black Friday laptop and netbook deals priced less than $400. I've found offers from many major retailers, as well as some handy tips to help you map out this year's shopping strategy.

If you can't get enough laptop information, then you should also check out PC World's 2009 Holiday Laptop Gift Guide to see which computers promise to be on everyone's wish list this year.

Have you already tried Chrome OS using a virtual machine, and were less than impressed? Well now you can get a feel for how Google's Web-centric operating system will run natively on your machine. The folks over at Engadget were able to boot Chromium OS -- the open source version of what will become Chrome OS -- off of a USB stick on a Dell Vostro A90 netbook. The USB bootable disc is based on the Chromium OS build of Twitter user Hexxeh, who set up a Web site where you can view all the instructions you need for getting your bootable USB up and running.

If you're ready to get your hands dirty and try out the new OS, here's what you need to know:

Stranded in the middle of a do-nothing town, armed only with a mobile phone? Google has streamlined its movie search function on your iPhone, Palm WebOS, or Android-powered device to make on-the-fly searching for movies easier.

To make TV commercials far more targeted than anyone has ever dreamed of, Google and TiVo are now teaming on a deal that gives companies buying ads through Google's TV Ads division access to "second-by-second" TV viewing data collected by TiVo's home digital video recorders (DVRs).

In a desperate bid for survival, longtime office software maker Corel has agreed to a takeover by its majority investor, Vector Capital, a move that could help keep classic software packages such as WordPerfect and CorelDraw around as Microsoft Office alternatives, at least for a while.

Founded in 1985 with CorelDraw as its linchpin, Corel has struggled to compete with Microsoft Word and Microsoft Office after acquiring the WordPerfect software title from Novell back in 1996. Corel has also produced literally dozens of other software titles over the years, often after acquiring them from other software vendors.

Google and TiVo are teaming up for a new deal that'll put your clicking habits into the hands of advertisers. Before you grab the nearest "privacy violation" placard, though, check out the specifics of this arrangement -- it's probably far less invasive than what you're expecting.

Google and TiVo's Ad Data Deal

Black Friday is only days away, and while early sales have been heating up this year, the day after Thanksgiving will still be a day for big bargains. If you haven't already, you should get warmed up for the big shopping day by checking out PC World's 10 Fascinating Facts (they're really tips) for Black Friday 2009, 8 tech tools to keep you on top of this year's deals, and some online shopping pointers from Black Friday pros.

The only thing left to do is keep an eye on the hottest destinations on the Web touting Black Friday deals. Here's a list of Web sites you'll want to keep an eye on, so sync them across your computers with Chrome bookmarks, save them to delicious or just store them in your favorite browser. Whatever you do, don't miss out on these sites to help you find great bargains.

Amazon has boosted the battery life of its Kindle e-reader and added native support for PDF documents, and you don't even have to buy new hardware to get the benefits.

The retailer says it made the battery improvements through a firmware upgrade that took six months to develop. As a result, Amazon claims that Kindles will get an 85 percent boost in battery life, lasting seven days with wireless turned on compared to four days previously. With wireless turned off, the Kindle will last up to two weeks on a charge, same as before.

Apple's jumping into the battle that sees Verizon Wireless and AT&T flaming each other in advertisements, but unlike AT&T's recent effort to defend itself, Apple's new pair of iPhone ads are actually good.

To recap, Verizon fired the first volley with ads that dissed AT&T's lack of 3G coverage. AT&T sued Verizon, claiming that the maps mislead viewers because areas with slower coverage appeared in white, giving the impression that those areas had no coverage at all. A judge ruled in Verizon's favor, allowing the company's ads to keep rolling. So AT&T retaliated with a lame and even childish ad that featured actor Luke Wilson checking off four bullet points in the carrier's favor.