While the iPhone platform has spent over a year on the market already, Google's Android is still something a lot of people talk about, but seeing it...that's a more delicate question! I mean...there are plenty of iPhone 3G problems to talk about, and only one Android problem: there are no Android devices widely available! Obviously, this is going to change pretty soon, and one of the first moves towards accomplishing the goal of living in a world where the iPhone, Android, and Windows Mobile platforms are accessible for everyone (at least to look at in a local store, if not buy) will be made by T-Mobile in about a week.

As you can see in the image above, coming right from Gearlog, official invites to the launch party of the T-Mobile G1, also known as the HTC Dream, or simply "the Google Phone," have been sent already. Unfortunately, I didn't get mine yet. Oh, wait! They have no reason to send me one, especially since it happens a few thousand miles away from me, but still...it would have been nice to have one invite!<-125x125 Button - right->

There's not much data available about this presentation yet, but it's enough to figure out from the invite that T-Mobile and Google execs will show a bunch of Android phones, speak about the features, plans for the future, and so on, all ending with a hands-on session for the reviewers and the curious ones in the attendance.

Just so that you get the idea, various sources already claim the "Google Phone" will come packed with features, including GPS navigation, a tilt sensor and, obviously, Wi-Fi. Who could imagine a "Google Phone" without Internet?

Unfortunately, we have no idea if the device is going on sale, the price, the service plans available for it, and so on. After all, what would be the meaning of a launch party, if all the data is made public before that?

If you're a user of the App Store, everything should be just fine, except the fact that, if you see some application today and you're planning to buy it next week, it may disappear until then. Why? I don't have an accurate statistic, but it seems a lot of programs have been pushed out of the App Store so far, and - in some cases - Apple didn't give any explanation, at least in the first days after the action. While this is their site, and they can do what they want, after all, there's one question rising - what's the problem with App Store, after all?

Until we get to the App Store problems, just a hint - Star Wars: The Force Unleashed has just become available, priced at $9.99. Early reviews show this to be a great game, so if you're into Star Wars... you know what to do!

The recent news are looking pretty bad for Apple, since it seems they even refused an entry to an app called Podcaster on the App Store, and their reason was pretty<-250x250 Square - right-> "Microsoftish," if you ask me(if you don't know why Windows Commander is now called Total Commander - it's because Microsoft's lawyers), considering they said that Podcaster "duplicates the functionality of the Podcast section of iTunes."

Next in line, we have Nullriver and their NetShare program, which has also been banned from Apple's App Store. Their website says the following: "Looks like Apple has decided they will not be allowing any tethering applications in the AppStore. As such, NetShare will not be available in the iTunes AppStore. We are seeing a lot of similar reports from various developers who's applications were abruptly removed and banned from the AppStore without any violations of the terms of service. This is all unfortunate news for the iPhone platform end-users."

This doesn't look well at all, and it has gone so far that some developers announced a full stop of their work on iPhone and iPod applications until things become clear. After all, what could be worse to work on something, try to comply all the written rules to enter the App Store, and then have your program removed because someone at Apple thinks something is wrong, although there's no rule saying that.

While reading user comments on various sites, I found one that remained stuck to my mind, but unfortunately I can't remember the user name or the site where I saw it. He was saying something like this "The only company to hold Apple back is Apple and sometimes they do a pretty good job." I don't know about you, but I think this proves to be true...

Less than 10 hours ago, another big event happened. No, there's nothing wrong with the new iPods to report, since this is nothing about them. Anyway, since the title leaves no room for secrets, here you have it, my friends - the long-awaited Mac OS X 10.5.5 update is finally available for everyone!

Since in this kind of situation talking too much is not recommended, let me get straight to the list of improvements, which you can see below:

General

Includes recent Apple security updates.
Addresses stability issues with video playback, processor core idling, and remote disc sharing for MacBook Air.
Addresses an issue in which some Macs could unexpectedly power on at the same time each day.
Resolves a stability issue in TextEdit that could be found when accessing the color palette.
Improves Spotlight indexing performance.<-250x250 Square - right->
Fixes an issue in which contacts might not sync properly with PalmOS-based devices.
Improves iPhone sync reliability with iCal and Address Book.
Includes improvements to Active Directory (see this article for more information).
Improves Speech Dictionary.
Fixes Kerberos authentication issues for Mac OS X 10.5 clients that connect to certain Samba servers, such as Mac OS X Server version 10.4.
Includes extensive graphics enhancements.


Address Book

Addresses stability issues that may occur when creating a Smart Group.
Resolves a printing issue with address cards containing information that spans more than one page.


Disk Utility and Directory Utility

Improves reliability when rebuilding a software mirror RAID volume in Disk Utility.
Improves reliability of server status displayed in Directory Utility.



iCal

Updates iCal to more accurately handle repeating events.
Improves performance when choosing meeting attendees.
Resolves an issue in which the "Refresh All" option may be dimmed ("grayed out") in the contextual menu for certain calendars.
Fixes issues with read-only calendars.
Addresses an issue that prevents an invitee from moving an event to a different calendar.
Resolves an issue with syncing published calendars.


Mail

Addresses performance issues related to displaying IMAP messages.
Resolves an issue with SMTP settings for AIM, Compuserve, Hanmail, Yahoo!, and Time Warner Road Runner email accounts.
Addresses stability issues that may occur when dragging a file to the Mail icon in the Dock.
Addresses an issue with the "Organized by Thread" view in which the date does not appear when the thread is collapsed.
Resolves an issue in which RSS feeds could temporarily disappear from the sidebar.
Improves Mail robustness when sending messages.
Improves reliability when saving drafts that have attachments.



MobileMe

Improves overall sync reliability.
Improves Back to My Mac reliability.



Time Machine

Improves Time Machine reliability with Time Capsule.
Addresses performance issues that may affect initial and in-progress backups.
Fixes an issue in which an incorrect alert message could appear stating that a backup volume does not have enough free space.
Time Machine can now back up iPhone backups that are on your Mac, as well as other items in (~/Library/Application Support).


To install this update, simply use the Software Update tool, or just click here to get the Mac OS X 10.5.5 update. Enjoy it!

My brothers of Apple, I am stunned once again. Even worse, it happens on Monday, but I hope I won't remain this way this week. I am safe and sound, nothing really bad happened, only that a few hours ago I found out about the new iPhone 2.1 firmware. So far, so good, but I found it absolutely incredible to know that the jailbroken version is also ready, virtually at the same time with the official one coming from Apple! Considering this, I wouldn't be amazed to see that, next time, the jailbroken version arrives first...

...but let's leave the future where it belongs, and look at what we have here, shall we? On "The unofficial, official blog of the "iphone-dev team"," a post about a day old says it clear, white on black:<-125x125 Button - right-> "Here are the new versions of PwnageTool and QuickPwn that support the 2.1 firmware. And as we just mentioned, iTunes was not harmed in the process ;-) no patching was required."

The funny part is that these guys from the so-called "iPhone Dev Team" hacked into the iPhone firmware 2.1 in an instant, but didn't take care of the iPod Touch 2.1 firmware yet, although that one was released a few days earlier.

Unfortunately, there's also a downside of the whole story: this jailbreak doesn't work with the new iPod Touch 2G, as I just said, and it doesn't work for iPhone 3Gs, either, being a pleasure reserved only for iPhones or first generation iPod Touch only.

On the 9th of September, as Steve Jobs announced the new goodies, the iPhone and iPod OS 2.1 were also shown to the world, only they didn't become available at the same time. The good news is that, finally, a few hours ago, iPhone 1st gen and iPhone 3G owners got the firmware 2.1 update available through iTunes 8. Since there is a long list of iPhone 3G problems, let's see what should be solved by this update, shall we?

I know you are anxious to find out more about what Apple claims to be fixed by the update, but first, you may want to take a look at the new iPod problems, too. Anyway, let's leave the problems aside now, and get to the fixes, so here's what the iPhone 2.1 firmware promises to do:

- Decrease in call set-up failures and dropped calls
- Significantly better battery life for most users
- Dramatically reduced time to backup to iTunes
- Improved email reliability, notably fetching email from POP and Exchange accounts
- Faster installation of 3rd party applications<-180x150 Small Rectangle - right->
- Fixed bugs causing hangs and crashes for users with lots of third party applications
- Improved performance in text messaging
- Faster loading and searching of contacts
- Improved accuracy of the 3G signal strength display
- Repeat alert up to two additional times for incoming text messages
- Option to wipe data after ten failed passcode attempts
- Genius playlist creation

You know what's the funny part? According to some early user reports, 3G is now working great, battery life was dramatically increased, and the interface is having a better response time than ever before!

Since I don't know anything yet from one of my iPhone 3G friends, and I always enjoy information from close sources, I have to ask you what's your opinion about iPhone 2.1, if you tried it, of course. Feel free to drop a comment below, it's going to be highly appreciated!