Starting with a little "status report," I still didn't manage to get an iPhone. Probably I'll wait for the next model, because I really hate the plastic back of the iPhone 3G. Anyway, apart from this little issue, it seems most iPhone 3G problems can be easily solved with firmware updates...or at least that's what they say! Who says that? For now, not the guys at Apple, but a bunch of analysts outside the company. If they are to be trusted or not, that's what remains to be seen, but for now, I think it would be a good idea to check what they have to say.

As you probably noticed already, if you looked for "iPhone 3G problems" on the Internet and checked at least one page containing user feedback, a lot of iPhone 3G owners claim they are facing a lot of problems with the 3G service. Usually, it's about fluctuating signal strength bars, as well as 3G use leading to extremely fast battery drain. While I don't think the battery life problems can be solved by a firmware update, the 3G signal problems are going deeper than just "an issue that Apple can solve."

From what I heard, it seems it's more about the provider, than the iPhone itself. Also, if I think well, this may also lead to faster battery drain - when the signal is weaker, phones usually drain their batteries faster, but I can't bet on that. Anyway, if you know more about the battery drain part, please feel free to drop a message below, we'll all be grateful for that! Now, let's get back to the provider, and to be more precise, we'll talk about the AT&T 3G service in the US, since they are the exclusive carrier for the iPhone 3G there, for now.<-180x150 Small Rectangle - right->

The problem seems to be that AT&T primarily uses the 1900MHz band in the US, and currently working on expanding its 850MHz band use, a frequency allowing radio signals to spread farther and penetrate walls easier. This will probably improve 3G signal for iPhone 3G users, but it can't happen over night...

Another iPhone 3G problem seems to be the dropped calls by provider, and according to unnamed sources, "the problem is affecting 2% to 3% of iPhone traffic, the people say. That compares with a dropped-call rate of around 1% for all traffic for AT&T." Anyway, these are not official numbers, and since conducting studies to get the real percentage is pretty difficult, we'll have to wait and see what happens in the future. While I am not expecting any real numbers coming from AT&T or Apple, all I want to see is happy iPhone 3G users, with as few dropped calls as possible.

At last, the analysts I mentioned in first place seem to blame everything - the components used, the production process, and the firmware, but if you ask me, it's first the carrier, and then, the firmware. Since I can't bet on this for now, I guess we'll have to wait and see what iPhone 2.1 will bring in about a month, if everything works as planned...

No matter what some may say, all firmware upgradeable devices hold big hopes with them, especially when the initial release doesn't live up to your expectations. Unfortunately, there are also exceptions - for example, I got a no name MP3 player as a gift(in fact, it had a name, Blue Sky, but I couldn't find any official site for it, not even a Chinese one!), and since its sound quality was abysmal, I tried to upgrade its firmware using the software located on the CD that came with it. The result was a player that doesn't work at all, but at least it's less stressing to see it doesn't work at all, than get the worst sound quality I ever heard! Now, let's get to the iPhone 2.1 info, with the latest news about the changes in the latest Beta, shall we?

As you probably remember, Apple's main reason for upgrading the firmware again in a very short time after the previous firmware edition, 2.0, is the fact that iPhone 2.0 was jailbroken extremely fast. Now, the fourth Beta comes with some interesting and unexpected updates, such as...<-125x125 Button - right->

...explicitely removing support for the push notification service! While feeding programs with data while they are practically inactive seems like a good idea, I can't help but wonder - what about potentially harmful programs? Probably that's also the reason that made Apple withdraw support for the push notification service. Anyway, since we didn't get to firmware 2.1, the final version, I guess there's enough time for them to change this once again, don't you think?

While Apple doesn't say much about this move, it seems the notification code has been pulled back for "further development," so it should arrive in the future, at least in the final 2.1 firmware, if they aren't going to hold it in the labs for a bit longer.

I am sure that some programmers are going to be disappointed by this, especially if they were already working on apps expected to use this feature, but I am sure it's all going to end well for them. Currently, the final iPhone 2.1 version is expected to drop by next month, so...go get a break, guys!

...please! Really, I want my iPhone hacked, and I also know how can do the best thing to Apple's smartphone since PwnageTool! Now, there's only one little problem - as you probably know already, I don't have an iPhone. Nothing bad with that, but if I'd get one, I will probably leave its software intact, at least for the start, so...what about having it hacked, as I was just saying? Obviously, I was talking about a hardware hack, and to figure out what is this all about, look at the back of the screen of any MacBook...or simply view the video below!

Still didn't manage to figure out what's the catch regarding the MacBooks? OK, I'll help you! If you look carefully at any of the current MacBook, MacBook Pro or MacBook Air notebooks(this is also true for some of the older models), you'll notice that the Apple logo located on the back of the screen lights up when the screen is on, simply using the excess light from the screen to illuminate. Now, let's move to the iPhone, shall we?<-180x150 Small Rectangle - right->

As you can easily notice, the iPhone and iPhone 3G have both a screen with a Apple logo behind it, but there's only one big difference - that logo is not lit at all by the screen he's back to back with. This is exactly where the hardware hack today comes in place. Hack my iPhone, please!

The Russian modder into this hack made a really brilliant Apple logo on the iPhone, replacing it with a piece of plastic and a LED. Even more, he came up with a custom piece of software that allows you to adjust the brightness of the logo. Sweet!

Since battery life is not heavily affected, if you're willing to lose the warranty of your iPhone, you should go to Russia and find this guy to hack your iPhone...or try to do what he has done, and get out much cheaper - or with a completely broken iPhone. Anyway, think positive, you only have to know somebody able to do it - it's just a LED and some plastic, it's not rocket science, after all!

Remember the MacBook Air? I am sure you do! After all, this is not only about Apple's notebook that's able to fit inside an envelope, as you were able to see countless times so far all over the Web - it's much more than that! For example, the MacBook Air provided a reason for some security specialists to earn no less than $10,000 for hacking it, and since we're talking about big money, it's also worth remembering the "Golden Age" MacBook Air, a custom made model, worth $40,000! Now, if we leave all these behind and look ahead, there's only one word to say: Penryn!

Obviously, we're going to talk about the same old rumor regarding the updates everyone is expecting to see. Basically, it's about changing the processor inside the MacBook Air. According to PhoneNews, this is as good as done already, and they even have some tech details about the revision of the thinnest notebook in the world(if I am wrong with this and something thinner was released in the meantime, please let me know!)...<-180x150 Small Rectangle - right->

As I was expecting, the external design is not going to suffer any major changes, as PhoneNews is claiming but the new CPU will be a standard Penryn-class Core 2 Duo, instead of the custom CPU its has now. The good news is that we'll see speeds going above 2GHz, but unfortunately power drain is also expected to increase. The interesting part is that while the Cupertino-based company will provide a more powerful battery, the AC adapter will remain the same 60W one currently in use with the MacBook family.

The article I mentioned earlier also says national retailers were alerted to be prepared for the upgrade, and that larger HDD drives are also expected to be added to the MacBook Air - 120GB for the default configuration, and an 160GB option, too, while SSD prices should keep the level where they are now...

These being said, there's only one more thing to add - nothing is official yet, but since more and more news channels claim this to be near, I guess we'll see this happening pretty soon.

Remember the patent filing about "iTunes anywhere" we were talking about a few days ago? I am sure those really in need of accessing their music collection remotely raised their eyebrows, and maybe some of them added a note to their to do list "check the status of Apple's iTunes anywhere patent," or something like that, just as I am waiting for full eye implants(yes, I hope to get 36X optical zoom eyes with a few millions MP resolution, what's the problem with that?) to become available in the next decade. The funny part is that an application following the approach described by Apple's patent has just arrived in the App Store, and its name is SimplifyMedia.

The idea behind SimplifyMedia is exactly the same as the one in Apple's patent I mentioned earlier, if you ask me - your iTunes library, located at home, becomes accessible via a broadband Internet connection, so no more storage limits, from now on. Hooray!

The iPhone application also uses a companion program for Windows, Mac and Linux, <-180x150 Small Rectangle - right->
so the iTunes songs and playlists from the user's computer and any of 30 friends can be easily shared and be accessible from anywhere, as long as your connection works well, of course.

The iPhone app isn't limited to a Wi-Fi connection and will also work over 2G and 3G Internet, and while listening to a song, you'll also get the album art and lyrics associated with it, if any available.

The downsides of SimplifyMedia include its ability to grant access to music that you don't legally own, while DRM-protected iTunes purchases won't stream with its help. For now, the app is available freely for the first 100,000 downloaders, and will be sold for $3.99 a copy, as soon as the download counter hits the 100K mark. Fortunately, the computer software companion is and will remain free.

Now, I only wonder about one thing - how long will this app hang on in Apple's App Store before being taken down? After all, some may consider this will inflict some losses to the iTunes Store...and I won't have to say anything else!