Here's an interesting reason why so many (around 9 percent, according to the most recent data) iPad and iPhone owners don't use apps as often as you might think: one bad experience usually ruins the whole setup for them. That's according to a new survey done by Harris Interactive, which found that 38 percent of mobile app using adults polled were actually dissatisfied with "most" of the apps they'd used. And 69 percent said that using an app they didn't like actually colored their perception of that brand entirely. Thirteen percent said that any bad app hindered them from even downloading other apps. You can probably imagine a user pulling up a fart app recommended by a friend, realizing how dumb it is, and then dismissing the App Store entirely.

Of course, this survey doesn't seem to specifically cover the App Store (and it only surveyed 781 people, though we'll hope Harris chose those people as a representative sample), so these people could have been using non-iPhone mobile apps -- typically a far cry from what's available in terms of selection and quality on the App Store right now.

It is interesting to hear some reasons why people aren't downloading and using apps. It's weird to think that people would use a terrible app and have it color their perception of some of the great apps we love, but as new as this platform still is, mass market users are still forming their opinions about the concept of applications on their phones.

Always wanted to work for Apple but not sure about in what capacity? If apps are your thing, this could be your lucky day as MacNN is reporting that Apple Worldwide Developer Relations is now hiring Mac App Store reviewers, or "Mac Application Reviewers" as corporate likes to call them. These positions are based near Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, and while the only main requirement for potential candidates must be a familiarity with OS X, some favor is given to those who are also proficient in written French, German, or Japanese.

While Mac App Store submissions began on November 3 and with the Mac App Store slated to open around January 20, 2011, Apple is looking to hire several "meticulous, analytical, hardworking, and detail-oriented" people with strong customer service skills for these Mac Application Reviewer positions. That's you, right? So what are you waiting for?

[via MacNN]

MacStories reports that the iOS 4.2 update scheduled for tomorrow has now been delayed due to a significant bug found in the gold master build. The bug involves WiFi connection issues found by developers currently running iOS 4.2 GM on the iPad. "Basically, even if the iPad manages to successfully connect to a local network, the connection is lost after a few minutes," MacStories states. "This seems to be the most common problem among users, although some can't simply use Safari at all." This bug isn't confined solely to the iPad, either -- our own Chris Rawson noticed the same WiFi connectivity issues while running iOS 4.2 GM on his iPhone 4.

Due to this, Apple has reportedly decided to hold off on releasing iOS 4.2 while they fix the WiFi bug. MacStories' source says developers could expect a new iOS 4.2 GM release as early as tomorrow, but it will be at least another week of testing before iOS 4.2 is released to the public. It may even be another two weeks until it debuts.

Earlier this week, MacStories accurately predicted the release of Mac OS X 10.6.5, though their prediction that iTunes 10.1 was scheduled to be released on the same day didn't pan out.

UPDATE: Mark Gurman of 9to5 Mac just emailed me to point out that iPhoneHellas is reporting the delay won't be as long as expected and iOS 4.2 may be launching on Tuesday, November 16th now. Obviously, this story is still developing and the only people who possibly know for sure just how long iOS 4.2 will be delayed are the boys in Cupertino.

Another weekend, another brand new Apple Store opening! This time, it's Canada's Quebec City store, which was announced quite a while ago, but is only now cutting the red ribbon (we're kidding -- they don't actually cut ribbons at these things, but they do give away a lot of t-shirts). The picture above is from TUAW reader Carl, who says he's excited to be at his first Apple Store opening ever. Good luck, Carl!

The grand opening for the store, in Place Ste. Foy, starts at 9:30am on Saturday morning, though you'll probably want to get there a little early if you really want to be first through the doors. Make sure you install the Apple Store app before you go, so you can give that a try. And being as it's in Quebec, the store will even be offering classes and workshops in French. To our brothers in the French Canadian north, bonne chance! Profiter!

9to5 Mac speculates that the second generation Apple TV is set to launch in Taiwan, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Portugal, and Belgium tomorrow morning. Last night, the night before the second gen Apple TV went on sale in Italy and Switzerland today, anyone who clicked on the original Apple TV link on the country's Apple Online Store were taken to an error message.

Today, that error message is being replicated in the Apple Online Stores of Taiwan, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Portugal, and Belgium when shoppers click on the same Apple TV link.

While this does seem to signify that the new Apple TV is set for imminent release in seven new countries, it's unknown if HD movie and TV rentals will appear in those countries' Apple TV iTunes store. We'll keep an eye out for official news that Apple TV is ready to launch elsewhere, and let you know when we hear more.

Mac OS X 10.6.5 was released yesterday, and one of the features it was expected to bring to the table was support for AirPrint, a new feature in iOS 4.2 that was supposed to enable wireless printing from an iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. Unfortunately, whether it's because of technical problems or patent trolling, Apple pulled support for this feature at the last minute. In its current incarnation, AirPrint in iOS 4.2 will now only work with specific printers that come with AirPrint functionality built-in... and you probably don't own one of those.

iOS 4.2 hasn't been officially released yet, but some enterprising developers, Steven Troughton-Smith and Patrick McCarron, have already found a way to re-enable AirPrint functionality in Mac OS X 10.6.5. Apparently, three files from earlier developer builds of 10.6.5 were removed or altered for the final public release, and it's these files that are essential to restoring full AirPrint functionality. Click "Read More" for a walkthrough on how to enable AirPrint.

The usual caveat: This procedure involves a moderate degree of peril, and TUAW cannot help you if you mess up your system. Proceed at your own risk.

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One of the original Apple-1 computers -- that's right, the wood-encased PCs that Steves Jobs and Wozniak built in the garage all those years ago -- is going up for auction at Christie's in London. There were only about 200 sold back in 1976 (for $666.66, of course) and only a few still left around today, but this one's going up on the auction block. And it's got all of the original materials included, apparently, including the original manual (with that old Apple Computer Co. logo) and a letter from Steve Jobs himself, answering questions about which keyboards and monitors to use with the PC.

The sale will go down on November 23rd, and the price is expected to reach £150,000, or about $242k. Honestly, it'd be nice to see this either bought up by Apple themselves (though Jobs must still have even more interesting treasures from back in those days), or by a museum somewhere. But even if it goes to a private collector, whoever picks it up will likely understand how important it is anyway, and they can make sure to preserve this piece of Apple history.

[via MDN]

iLounge reports that Apple has started to sell iBooks-branded iTunes Store gift cards in Apple Stores. I also saw the same gift cards for sale in my local Target store this morning. The gift cards come in US$25 and US$50 denominations and, like other iTunes gift cards, aren't limited to purchasing iBooks but can be used to purchase any content in the iTunes Store.

The idea behind the iBooks gift card branding is twofold: to appeal to customers buying iPads for book lovers this holiday season and also to remove any doubt in the minds of purchasers that gift cards could not be used in the iBookstore. That was a common misconception, because the iBookstore is only found on iOS devices and not in the iTunes desktop application. But that should be put to rest with these cards right alongside the usual iTunes gift cards this holiday season.

Microsoft recently released its Kinect motion sensor system for the Xbox 360 -- it's a little camera-equipped device that plugs into the game console and lets you control game titles, Wii-style, with just your body in lieu of any actual controllers. Just a few days after release, the hardware was hacked, and now hacker Theo Watson has released an OS X port of libfreenect, a library that allows you to run Kinect's output directly into OS X. You can watch video of it all working right after the break -- he doesn't seem real excited about it (that, or he's tired after putting it together), but it is a cool little setup.

It's still a work in progress (the device has only been out for a week or so), and of course this is all unofficial -- Microsoft will never be interested in wanting to hook the Kinect up to anything but one of their Xbox 360 gaming consoles. But we've certainly seen some fun things done with the Wii controllers an Apple devices, so maybe something cool will come out of this hack as well.

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Following today's Ping Twitter integration, many on Twitter started blasting the overly long Ping URLs. Now, MacRumors points out that one of their readers speculates that Apple could use its own iTun.es link shortener to help fit Ping links into Twitter's character limitation.

The www.itun.es web domain currently forwards to Apple.com. MacRumors did some digging and found out that Apple has been the owner of itun.es since December 2006 when it was registered by MarkMonitor, the brand management firm Apple uses to register all of its domains. MacRumors notes that since Apple has owned the domain for almost four years it is unlikly they bought it specifically for a link shortener purpose, but with today's Ping Twitter integration it would allow the company to put the domain to good use.