SIM-free iPhone 3GS now available online

TheApple iPhone 3G S is now available online in 16GB and 32GB varieties priced at £799.99 and £899.99 respectively. There's probably not a whole heap of people that don't know the 3G S' vitals by now, but in case you've been in a cave, its particulars include:

• 3.5-inch 320x480 touchscreen
• Video capable 3.15-megapixel camera
• 3G HSDPA connectivity (7.2Mbps)
• WiFi
• Bluetooth v2.1
• A-GPS with Google Maps

Naturally, a large appeal of the iPhone lays in-waiting at the iTunes app store, with thousands of various functional and gaming apps.
With a seriously steep price tag that's roughly equivalent to a decent spec laptop, you're going to have to have a fairly serious phobia of O2 and contracts in general to shell out the reddies for this up-front.
If that sounds like you, then head on over to the Play.com website to peruse its wares.

Would you pay $9.99 a month for AT&T's GPS service iPhone App?

AT&T sent out a message yesterday to its subscribers touting its new voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation service, operated by TeleNav. For "just $9.99 a month," the message said, subscribers can "get there faster, safer and without any hassles."
Turns out the monthly fee is a hassle to some. True, AT&T is simply the conduit for the underlying service from TeleNav in Sunnyvale, Calif. But the carrier still is getting some grief from consumers. One reviewer at ComputerWorld argued that the "free" iPhone app was a "Trojan horse into your wallet." (It's free to install but costs $9.99 a month to use.)
The broader question is whether consumers, who have grown used to free or very inexpensive apps that do a dizzying array of high-tech tasks, will still go for a subscription model. For AT&T and TeleNav, their competitors are TomTom, which showed off its turn-by-turn app last month at the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference but has yet to announce a pricing structure, and Google Maps, which provides directions for free but doesn't have some of the bells and whistles of TeleNav. There are also the traditional GPS devices, which cost as little as $99.99, no monthly fee required.
Tell us where you would turn for directions. Would you pay 10 bucks a month for a service on your iPhone? Or would a frills-free Google Maps app work just as well?

iPhone OS v3.1 Improves iPhone Video Edits, Voice Controls

Apple already is gearing up for a new OS update
It didn't take Apple long after the release of its iPhone OS v3.0 to begin preparing for the first major update to the new OS. Apple has announced the availability of a beta of its OS v3.1 along with a 3.1 version SDK, for its developers.

IPhone OS v3.1 will improve video editing, one of the hot new features on the iPhone 3G S. The 3G S allows users to edit videos by selecting or deselecting series of frames, however, the edits automatically overwrote the original. Now the system prompts the user with the option to save a copy, when saving your editing work.

Arranging icons on the home screen also has had a cool vibration effect added. Another little OS level tweak is the boot time -- the phone now boots considerably faster.

Another nice addition is the inclusion of paste into the dialing screen. Users can now paste phone numbers into the dial box. Alphanumeric numbers, such as 1-800-MY-APPLE, will be properly converted to phone numbers.

MMS functionality is supported in the beta, though it is still not supported on the network by AT&T. The beta's final major addition is the ability to use Voice Control via a Bluetooth headset.

Your dog wants you to download some Free iPhone Apps

Lately, the number of travelers who are accompanied by their canines has increased so dog friendly information has become a hot commodity. In the past there were informative but not necessarily mobile user friendly Dog Lovers Companion guide books, the Dog Friendly website and Bay area’s Dining with Sophie website. More recently, lucky iPhone mobile users have found imper

Apple's iPhone can be Infected with SMS messages

iPhone SMS vulnerability could allow malicious users to install and execute malware.

Recently, Apple has struggled with the security ramifications of a higher commercial profile, and seeing an increasing number of OS X malware. Now another security flaw has been found, this time in the iPhone OS. The flaw allows attackers to gain root access to the iPhone's underlying OS, allowing them to install and execute malicious programs at will.
The iPhone apparently automatically executes binary code sent in SMS messages. Messages are limited to 140 bytes, but this is little deterrence as longer programs can be broken up into several messages, which the phone automatically reassembles. While other applications such as the Safari browser on the phone only enjoy access to their sandbox, the SMS system is automatically granted root access, and SMS commands execute as root.
Charlie Miller, during a presentation at the SyScan conference in Singapore on Thursday introduced the vulnerability to the public. He declined to go into specific details or offer his proof-of-concept code to the public, as he has entered under an agreement with Apple. Mr. Miller did state, "SMS is a great vector to attack the iPhone."

iPhone 3GS Overheats and Dies with Sunlight says Apple

Apple finally responds to reports about its heat issues
Apple has been having plenty of headaches lately with its MacBook Pro displays failing and experiencing distortion. Worse yet is the iPhone 3G S's quality problems, which include reported overheating and signal issues.
The overheating was first noted in Apple support forums. Soon, though, writers at several tech publications -- PC World, Wired, Le Journal Du Geek and The Telegraph -- began to notice the problems on their own phones. The Le Journal Du Geek writer posted pictures of a white phone and noticed that the overheating was so severe that it colorized the plastic. The heat tended to turn the case pink or brown.
Now, Apple has at last issued a response and it is assigning the blame for the problem on its users' behavior, sunlight, and on the seasons. Apple says that leaving the device in a car on a hot day is one possible culprit causing its phone to overheat. Apparently, like a vampire the phone is no friend of the sun -- Apple states that "leaving it in direct sunlight for extended amounts of time" may cause it to overheat

Free iPhone App: TweetDeck

One of the most popular desktop Twitter clients now has a little brother. The free iPhone version of TweetDeck will no doubt be greeted with open arms by users of its older sibling, but I'm not convinced it's the best iPhone Twitter client. Though it looks great, it lacks some cool features found in TwitterFon and Twitterrific, which were designed from the ground up for Apple's mobile phone. But I do like TweetDeck's support for multiple accounts, as well as the clever, if gimmicky, shake-to-update feature.

Top iPhone Games Reviewed

The iPhone is hot, and not just because it's overheating -- its also hot because it has some of the best handheld games on the market. In this first edition of our iPhone gaming update we look at what's new on the App store scene and what games are selling the best.
This week's top 15 paid apps are:

1. Hero of Sparta (Gameloft)
2. Sally's Spa (Games Cafe Inc.)
3. Flight Control (Firemint)
4. StoneLoops! of Jurassica (PlayCreek)
5. Real Soccer 2009 (Gameloft)
6. Fast & Furious The Game (I-Play)
7. Bejeweled 2 (PopCap Games, Inc.)
8. Doom Resurrection (id Software)
9. Bloons (Digital Goldfish Ltd.)
10. Knights Onrush (Chillingo Ltd.)
    
    Honorable Mentions:
    Tetris (17), Sally's Salon (13), The Sims 3 (20), and F.A.S.T. Fleet Air Superiority Training (11)

Hero of Sparta continues to be the App store's hottest seller, priced at $0.99. This hack-and-slash adventure released in December 2008 features some pretty impressive 3D graphics and slick storytelling cut-scenes. The game will give you about four hours of solid gameplay, or about 6-10 for obsessive types -- not bad for the price. This one is recommended for fans of the God of War, Gauntlet, or Diablo franchises.

iPhone 3GS Jailbroken! A Teenager has Hacked It!

George Hotz, an enterprising teen hacker who goes by the name Purplera1n, won fame and infamy in 2007 when he became the first to free the iPhone from its AT&T U.S. SIM card restrictions.  As a reward, Mr. Hotz won a hot set of wheels -- the Nissan 350Z and a paid consulting job with CertiCell, a cell phone services company.

Now a little older and taller, Mr. Hotz, age 19, has distinguished himself again, becoming the first to publish a jailbreak solution for the iPhone 3G S -- a fix to allow the phone to run apps not approved by Apple.  The first step is to visit Mr. Hotz's page and download the "purplera1n" app.  Mr. Hotz describes the following steps on his blog, writing:

Connect your iPhone normally. Click “make it ra1n”. Wait. On bootup, run Freeze, the purplera1n installer app.

The Freeze installer will install an app called Cydia which allows you to run any application on the iPhone -- Apple approved or not.

Using this newfound freedom, the iPhone's SIM card can be unlocked to run on any network by using the previously released ultrasn0w by the Dev Team.  The Dev Team, not affiliated with Mr. Hotz had published the ultrasn0w app, but had declined to release a fix to jailbreak the iPhone, essentially rendering the app useless (as it was not Apple approved).

The Dev Team had stated that it would release a jailbreak with the OS update v3.1.  Mr. Hotz was frustrated by this, so he took matters into his own hands.  He accuses the Dev Team of delaying the jailbreak release for fear of an Apple patch, chastising, "Normally I don't make tools for the general public, and rather wait for the dev team to do it. But guys, whats up with waiting until 3.1? That isn't how the game is played. We release, Apple fixes, we find new holes. It isn't worth waiting because you might have the "last" hole in the iPhone. What last hole...this isn't golf. I'll find a new one next week."

A Windows-compatible version of the iPhone unlocking tool came last week, and this weekend brought a Mac compatible version.  The Windows version is not compatible with Windows 7, according to Mr. Hotz's blog, and it requires the iPhone to be running OS v3.0 and for the latest version of iTunes to be installed.

IPhone 3GS is a Top Smartphone

The iPhone 3G S was one of the biggest gadget launches of the year when it hit store shelves last month. Other notable launches during the month included the Palm Pre, hyped as one of the best competitors to the iPhone.

Consumer Reports has released its top smartphone rankings reports InformationWeek and the ever popular iPhone 3G S has taken the top spot in the rankings. Consumer Reports does point out that while the iPhone 3G S has taken the top spot; the rankings were very close with the Palm Pre and the Blackberry Storm on its heels.

Consumer Reports ranks the iPhone 3GS tops based on what it calls "top-notch" multimedia navigation, web browsing, and battery life. The publication also reports that the 3G S excels in display quality. The Pre on the other hand was bolstered in the rankings with superior multitasking, while the Storm bested the iPhone in messaging.

Consumer Reports also changed its ranking criteria with the new smartphone rankings release. The change in scoring means that some smartphones like the Blackjack II from Samsung and the Pearl Flip from Blackberry dropped in ranking while the iPhone 3G rose in the ranks.