From those I know who have the iPhone, they love the phone, they just aren’t too thrilled about their data plan. What’s the use for having a phone like this if you can’t browse the net on the network? Although it works great on Wi-Fi, you have to pay at most joints if you can’t pull it for free from someone’s house. I mean, if you do that sort of thing.

Well, things have just gotten a little bit better. AT&T is now offering their Wi-Fi hotspots for free as part of their plans for the iPhone. That includes all Barnes and Noble and Starbucks stores that AT&T is offered in. Not a bad deal. And once the 3G comes out, you’ll be set everywhere for a quick connection.

Source: MacRumors, AT&T

For those of you looking for a thin, protectable case to protect your snazzy little iPhone may want to check out the Naked Case by Case-Mate.

Unlike most hard cases for the iPhone, this one appears to allow you to leave it in the case while using the docking station. If not, it’s really easy to remove. The Naked Case appears to be so thin too that you don’t even notice it’s on the phone. And if you’ve got an iPod Touch, the Nake Case will work for that as well.

Here, check out the video of the Naked Case. And if you’re interested, they are running for $34.99 at Case Mate.

YouTube - Watch Link

To go to Case Mate, click here.

Source: Case-Mate

If you thought Google Maps and iTunes was something to rave about on your new iPhone, then you haven’t seen anything yet.

Remember when E.T. said he wanted to “phone home,” well, it looks like Apple is going to make it possible.

Due out this September, the new iPhone, iMartian, will finally allow those who want to, to call Mars.

Now I know what some of you are thinking. Why would you need to call Mars? But I’m thinking exactly how the guys at Apple are: Why not!?

Jared Johannson of Louisiana picked up a trial version of the iMartian as part of a select group to test out the new iPhone and had this to say about it.

“I swear, I dialed “11” and a number and someone up there (pointing up) picked up,” said Johansson. “Yep, that’s right. It was mostly static and clicks and a few beeps in there, but I know I heard him breathin’ and speaking a few words of English in there. Well, maybe not English, but it was something.”

But while he may be happy with his new discovery, some other iPhone customers aren’t as excited about the out of this world reception.

“I don’t care if they can reach Pluto with the iMartian,” said AT&T user Mallory Swanson of Toluca Lake. “I want to know why I can’t get reception to my mother’s house across the street with my iPhone. “More bars” means nothing if the bars don’t work!”

When Apple was contacted about the iMartian’s new out of this world discovery, their office released this official statement.

“We know that the public will really love the new iPhone, the iMartian. Although not everyone will be able to pick up a transmission, at least they have the ability to try. But, if you buy our new, upgraded model, the iGhoul, for an extra $100 due out next fall, you’ll probably be able to reach the dead. But you won’t know until you buy one. You win some, you lose some.”

And one more thing: April Fools!

Starting this fall, Abilene Christian University will be the first institution of higher learning to hand out iPhones or iPod Touches to incoming freshman to help enhance their learning experience.

According to ACU, Apple has already started to work with Abilene Christian University on handing out iPhones to incoming freshman starting this fall. The iPhone or the iPod Touch would allow students to receive homework alerts, answer in-class surveys and quizzes, check account balances, make payments and much more. This new program will definitely help to solve any communication issues that students encounter with contacting their professors or adjusting to college life.

It looks like Apple and AT&T have worked themselves into another market that seemingly no one else is yet to compete with. What I want to know is how they expect the students to actually pay attention in class and not watch YouTube videos all day?

Here is a video from ACU to help show you how the iPhone will be implemented into the students’ life.

YouTube - Watch Link

To read more about this new iPhone program at ACU, click here.

Source: ACU News

Looks like the iPhone just keeps getting better.

Now you can listen to Internet radio with the help of FlyTunes, a web application accessible through the Safari browser that allows users to sign-up and access their account from their PC or Mac and then login using their iPhone. Users can customize their stations on their computer first and also queue up to 30 minutes of music for them to listen to when they are out of WiFi /Edge coverage.

The price for this service? It’s not much at all.

It’s FREE.

Service will be available January 21st. Click here to go to FlyTunes.

YouTube - Watch Link

Source: Engadget

Looks like Verizon is gonna lighten up next year on what devices they allow into their network.

They announced today that starting in early 2008, Verizon is going to open up their network to any wireless device, software and applications not offered by the company.

Apparently, Verizon has a $20 million dollar testing lab where they will be testing devices to see if they are “good” enough to be on their network. If the device meets the minimal technical requirements, then they’ll be allowed onto their network. So, technically then, they’re not letting ANY DEVICE onto their network.

So much for me trying to build my own iPhone out of a coat hanger and Gameboy.

Source: Gizmodo

Photo Source.

Time Magazine has announced that Apple’s iPhone is this year’s invention of the year. Why you ask?

Simple. Here are the five reasons Time chose it as the coolest thing of 2007:

1. The iPhone is pretty
Most high tech companies don’t take design seriously. They treat it as an afterthought. Window dressing. But one of Jobs’ basic insights about technology is that good design is actually as important as good technology. All the cool features in the world won’t do you any good unless you can figure out how to use said features, and feel smart and attractive while doing it.

An example: look at what happens when you put the iPhone into “airplane” mode (i.e., no cell service, WiFi, etc.). A tiny little orange airplane zooms into the menu bar! Cute, you might say. But cute little touches like that are part of what makes the iPhone usable in a world of useless gadgets. It speaks your language. In the world of technology, surface really is depth.

2. It’s touchy feely
Apple didn’t invent the touchscreen. Apple didn’t even reinvent it (Apple probably acquired its much hyped multi touch technology when it snapped up a company called Fingerworks in 2005). But Apple knew what to do with it. Apple’s engineers used the touchscreen to innovate past the graphical user interface (which Apple helped pioneer with the Macintosh in the 1980s) to create a whole new kind of interface, a tactile one that gives users the illusion of actually physically manipulating data with their hands flipping through album covers, clicking links, stretching and shrinking photographs with their fingers.

This is, as engineers say, nontrivial. It’s part of a new way of relating to computers. Look at the success of the Nintendo Wii. Look at Microsoft’s new Surface Computing division. Look at how Apple has propagated its touchscreen interface to the iPod line with the iPod Touch. Can it be long before we get an iMac Touch? A TouchBook? Touching is the new seeing.

3. It will make other phones better
Jobs didn’t write the code inside the iPhone. These days he doesn’t dirty his fingers with 1’s and 0’s, if he ever really did. But he did negotiate the deal with AT&T to carry the iPhone. That’s important: one reason so many cell phones are lame is that cell phone service providers hobble developers with lame rules about what they can and can’t do. AT&T gave Apple unprecedented freedom to build the iPhone to its own specifications. Now other phone makers are jealous. They’re demanding the same freedoms. That means better, more innovative phones for all.

4. It’s not a phone, it’s a platform
When Apple made the iPhone, it didn’t throw together some cheapo bare bones firmware. It took OS X, its full featured desktop operating system, and somehow squished it down to fit inside the iPhone’s elegant glass and stainless steel case. That makes the iPhone more than just a gadget. It’s a genuine handheld, walk around computer, the first device that really deserves the name. One of the big trends of 2007 was the idea that computing doesn’t belong just in cyberspace, it needs to happen here, in the real world, where actual stuff happens. The iPhone gets applications like Google Maps out onto the street, where we really need them.

And this is just the beginning. Platforms are for building on. Last month, after a lot of throat clearing, Apple decided to open up the iPhone, so that you, meaning people other than Apple employees, will be able to develop software for it too. Ever notice all that black blank space on the iPhone’s desktop? It’s about to fill up with lots of tiny, pretty, useful icons.

5. It is but the ghost of iPhones yet to come
The iPhone has sold enough units, more than 1.4 million at press time, that it’ll be around for a while, and with all that room to develop and its infinitely updatable, all software interface, the iPhone is built to evolve. Look at the iPod of six years ago. That monochrome interface! That clunky touchwheel! It looks like something a caveman whittled from a piece of flint using another piece of flint. Now imagine something that’s going to make the iPhone look that primitive. You’ll have one in a few years. It’ll be very cool. And it’ll be even cheaper.

Source: Time Magazine

Here is a review sent in from one of our readers.

In it he talks about the recent Ooma purchase that he made, which is a calling device that will allow him to have clearer international phone calls.

Thanks for contributing Harry.

Read his article below.

(more…)

According to Engadget, it looks like they have found someone that can crack the iPhone SIM lock system and allow users to choose their own provider and allow those outside the United States to have a fully functional iPhone.

Supposedly the iPhoneSIMFree.com team cracked the code, although they won’t say when or how, making them the first to do so.

To read the full article, go to Engadget.com.

I don’t know how efficient this new system is going to be, but just the thought of not waiting on hold to order a pizza is exciting. Despite people have been ordering pizzas online for sometime, Domino’s Pizza in the UK is allowing their customers to order pizzas now through text messaging.

This new method isn’t available in the United States yet, but after a successful trial run in July in the UK, they are now allowing them to order through SMS to their 470 UK locations. But before you are able to use this new service, you must sign up and follow the instructions online.

Source: Engadget