Some like it. Others hate it. A lot of people have problems with it, and thousands are waiting to get their hands on one. Obviously, it's the iPhone. While this is not the first time Apple's wild child gets an award, I think we should consider it good news. After all, it's the "Gadget of the Year" award from British Technology Awards, not just some another local newspaper or website!

Going way beyond being "only" the "Gadget of the Year," the iPhone also got these three awards: "Most Stylish Technology," "Technological Innovation of the Year," and "Best Mobile Technology." Close to the iPhone, the Apple iTunes software got the "Best Music Technology" award.

Since this looks pretty interesting, let me give you the entire list of winners and their awards:

Best Gaming Technology
Nintendo Wii
<-336x280 Large Rectangle - right->
Best Home Entertainment Technology
BBC iPlayer

Best Kids Technology
Nintendo DS

Best Mobile Technology
Apple iPhone

Best Music Technology
Apple iTunes

Best Online Technology
BBC iPlayer

Business Technology of the Year
Asus Eee PC

Gadget of the Year
Apple iPhone

Greenest Technology
Toyota Prius

Most Indispensable Technology
Google Maps

Most Stylish Technology
Apple iPhone

Retailer of the Year
Amazon

Technological Innovation of the Year
Apple iPhone

As you can see, the iPhone got to be more than just "Gadget of the Year," and this is surely good news for Apple fans. Now, I only wait for the iPhone to become as reliable as it should have been from the start. After all, the battle is getting extremely tough these days, with Google joining in...

I know Microsoft has its MSDN Academic Alliance, an excellent program for students, but no matter how much they try, they are still missing one thing - getting really close & personal with the user and - possibly - future employee. Why am I saying this? The answer is exactly the title of the article - while "academic alliance" is something more general, and the design of the website follows Microsoft's corporate layout used and overused for a lot of their pages(and a bit outdated, if you ask me), "Field Trip to Apple Store" get much closer to the user, as we're going to see right away!

One of these days, I was thinking about one thing - what are those attributes that would really make Microsoft products interesting for 5-10 year old kids? I am not talking about their games, but about the Zune, or even(maybe most important of all) Windows. The answer doesn't look good at all - Microsoft lacks two essential features - the "cool factor" and being really close to its users. <-250x250 Square - right->Don't tell me Windows Vista is cool, I won't buy that - it's even more than just cool - it's frozen!

Having a well chosen headline - "Our Store. Their time to shine," the Apple Field Trip website is all about shopping and learning at the same time.

If you're a teacher, all you have to do is "Take your students on a Field Trip to an Apple Store for an unforgettable learning experience. On their Field Trip, students can create something amazing right on the spot. Or they can bring in a project they’ve already created and turn our store into a theater, sharing their achievements with parents, teachers, and friends. No matter which option you choose, everyone will have a great time." Pretty cool, don't you agree?

Field trips are open to K-12 students in the U.S. and Canada, unfortunately, so the rest of the world should simply sit back and hope for a more interesting future offered by Apple to the rest of the world(at least the MSDN Academic Alliance program is offered in a lot of countries...).

In less than a week from now on, we will probably get some new MacBooks from Apple. Obviously, we may only get slightly refreshed hardware, without any special new features or a redesign of the casing, but I think we should all get ready for the new MacBook Pro casing, since the first spy shots already appeared, and things started to have a very interesting shape, as we're going to see right away...

First of all, a warning - the picture above could be of a Mac that's not going to arrive next week, or it could be a fake, so the new MacBook Pro casing could be quite different, after all. Since there are not enough images available to get the big picture, then there's still hope for our new MacBook Pro design to come true, so don't despair!<-180x150 Small Rectangle - right-> After all, we're talking about a rumor, for now, since basically this is all about a photo from a Chinese website that started to roll around the Web less than a day ago.

In this picture, the left-hand side of what seems to be the 15- or 17-inch new MacBook Pro shows a new speaker grill design, while the keyboard cutout matches the one already used by the MacBook Air. More than that, it seems the new MacBook Pro casing will feature a new port layout, without the FireWire 400 port and 28-pin DVI-I (Dual Link) ports, the latter being replaced with a mini-DVI port.

At last, it should also be noted that the new MacBook Pro casing seems to feature between "2000 and 3000 micro-perfed holes for the speakers," but I am sure best thing to do is wait just one more week and see the real thing showing up...if we get lucky to see the new MacBook Pro arriving on the 14th of this month, of course!

We all know that Apple still has a bunch of iPhone 3G problems left to deal with, even after the latest iPhone software update. One of the smartest moves Apple decided to make was the release of the software market companion for the iPhone, namely the App Store. Disregarding what seems to be a little bit of dictatorship, when it comes to programs admission and removal, the App Store is a great way of pushing forward to consumers the iPod Touch, the iPhone, and - most of all - those countless applications for them. So far, so good, but have you ever thought that the BlackBerry won't have its revenge? Cute, but WRONG!

The time for BlackBerry applications to have their own marketplace has come, at the same time with the release of the BlackBerry Storm, also known as the 9500. Revealed by Vodafone UK, this is a new kick in the back of Apple's iPhone, featuring a bunch of improvements to the capabilities present in the iPhone, such as push email, a 3.2MP camera with autofocus and flash,<-336x280 Large Rectangle - right-> a screen with "click" feedback to simulate button touches, and removables that include a battery(removable battery, yes, removable battery!) as well as support for memory cards up to 16GB!

When talking about BlackBerry applications, it all starts with the OS, now having an option to copy and paste text(hey, Apple, see that?), while the full HTML browser shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. Having a marketplace for BlackBerry applications, although not something out of this world, was "a must," after seeing Apple's App Store and Google's Android Market coming to life.

The interesting part about the BlackBerry Application Center is that carriers will filter the apps visible in the portal for their customers, and not the producer of the handset, as it happens with the App Store, for example.

The Application Center is expected to become operational next month and, with its help, we'll have a more competitive mobile applications market. Anyway, all in all, I would still choose a Google Android-phone over the iPhone or the BlackBerry...

If it doesn't have a replaceable battery, don't buy it, that's what I always say, but what if the thing we're talking about is the almighty iPhone? Well, I basically could say the same thing, but who would do as I say, simply because of this? Oh, wait, there are a lot of other iPhone 3G problems to make you change your mind...or not. After all, these problems won't take away the "cool factor" of the "more than just a phone" from Apple, but hearing about replaceable iPhone batteries is something everyone was waiting for, but none would have ever imagined to see it coming true!

Wait, wait, wait! You won't be able to just walk to the store next corner and ask for some replaceable iPhone batteries, because this dream is going to be turned into reality by the European Union, currently preparing new directives that are going to include the "New Batteries Directive," proposing that batteries in all electronic appliances selling in the EU to be "readily removed" for displacement or disposal.

This will be a new step, after the RoHS(Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive) made things a lot tougher for electronics manufacturers, <-250x250 Square - right->with the new limits imposed for lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, and flame retardants known as PBB and PBDE.

According to an article published by Gary Nevison in New Electronics, "the requirement is clearly intended to ensure that users can remove batteries by opening a cover by hand or after removal of one or two screws. The producer will also have to provide the user with details on how to remove the battery safely."

Since Apple's iPod and iPhone are the most notorious products with built in batteries that require special tools or professional assistance to remove them, let's all hope the EU won't change the new directives until they are finalized so that the Cupertino-based company continues to deliver them as they do now. After all, I am sure US-based consumers would also love Apple for doing the right thing and making the replaceable iPhone batteries a dream that came true...