Today, we’re rolling out a sizable collection of Free eBooks, most of them classics, that features major works written by James Joyce, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jane Austen, Nietzsche and others. (We have even thrown in a little Paulo Coelho.

During the lazy days of summer, we quietly launched a new, free iPhone app. Now summer is fading, people are getting back to work, students back to school, and it’s time to get the word out. This app takes our intelligent media collections and let’s you listen to them on the go.

It’s not often that The New Yorker does the gadget review. But here we have one – Nicholson Baker breaking down the Kindle. The upshot? He’s not a big fan. Why? Let me give you some of the money quotes.

A quick heads up. We’ve now started rolling out our new iPhone app. It will let you listen to audiobooks, university courses, foreign language lessons, and other intelligent content on the iPhone. The app is free. And so is the content. So there’s nothing to lose by checking it out.

This caught my attention today:
“The National Gallery is the first ever gallery to make its paintings accessible through a downloadable iPhone application, making it possible to take a mini tour of the Gallery anywhere in the world.
The Gallery, in partnership with Antenna Audio and Apple Inc.

Apple announced a new line of products this morning. Most will focus on the new, speedier iPhone. But what caught my eye is the Iceberg e-book reader that will bring 1,000,000 books to the iPhone.

The iPhone just got a bit smarter. Thanks to this new, free app, you can listen to 1800 free audio books on your Apple device. The app lets you listen to public domain audio books from the great Librivox (whose works, read by volunteers, also appear in our Free Audio Books collection). The ad-supported software is straightforward and easy to use.

Last week, we flagged for you a list called the 100 Best iPhone Apps for Serious Self-Learners. What the list missed is another nice app that puts the complete works of Shakespeare on your iPhone. And, the best part, it’s all free.

With a little luck, we’re going to be bringing you an Open Culture iPhone app in the next couple of months. In the meantime, here’s a handy list of iPhone apps for “serious self-learners.

A quick heads up: Stanford has just launched a free software development course for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The lectures will be rolled out on iTunes first, and eventually they will be posted on YouTube as well. You can get the first lecture on iTunes here. This 10 week computer science course is officially called iPhone Application Programming.