Apple seems to have dropped its ban on apps that "duplicate" the iPhone's built-in Safari and opened up to third-party browsers, including the privacy-please Incognito, a tabbed WebMate, and others.

The good news: CNET has sources saying the three largest music labels will allow Apple to offer music downloads free of copy-protection. And the bad news might not be that bad. In exchange for the DRM-free tracks, Apple will reportedly allow labels to push three tiers of pricing. Older songs from the archives will likely get cheaper than 99 cents, songs that are newer and "midline" (i.e. not big hits) will inhabit the familiar 99 cent mark, and newer, bigger hits will fetch higher, unnamed dollar amounts.< If announced at the Macworld conference today—which our gadget-obsessed cousins at Gizmodo are, of course, covering live —there could also be over-the-air 3G downloads coming to iPhone owners, and DRM dropped from everything in the iTunes store on launch. As Greg Sandoval at CNET points out, though, that leaves a question mark on tracks already purchased through iTunes. Will variable, DRM-free pricing make you a (new or returning) iTunes customer? Tell us your take in the comments. Sources: Apple to expand DRM-free music, new pricing

You want to download free apps and songs from the iTunes Store, but you don't want to hand over your address and credit card details—the gHacks blog runs down how, using an expired coupon code.

A number of blogs and web zines lately have examined Apple's App Store and its development policies and voiced their complaints. Chief among them are the app approvers' inconsistent approval standards—ranking the "Pull My Finger" app as not useful, for example, but allowing virtual bubble-wrap poppers—and taking a hard stance against any app that tries to upgrade or replace the built-in tools on an iPhone or iPod touch, like native podcast downloading or feature-added email clients. App Store developers knew Apple's policies from the start, of course, but many are calling for the Cupertino cool-maker to drop the secrecy and allow in competing apps. We're wondering what our iPhone/iPod touch app fans think—are you glad Apple's trying to keep an eye on the store, so to speak, or do you feel like you're missing out on potentially killer apps? Tell us your take on the store and its ground rules in the comments.