Despite the fact most people don't think much about it, one of the big problems with the iPhone 3G is the activation process. No, I don't have anything against in-store activation, but hear me - it's only about being the first one to touch it! All right, I know it has been touched before by workers at some Foxconn plant, but that's not the point. When I buy some gadget, no matter if it's an iPhone or something else, I want to take it home sealed inside its box, and be the one to take it out, maybe read the manual, turn it upside down and enjoy the looks, be the first one to press the Power button...

I know, you can say I got a technology fetish, and I won't say anything to deny it. After all, why do such a thing? It doesn't hurt anyone, and - this is the best part of it - soon we'll be able to bring home our new iPhones, take them out of the box and activate them right in the bedroom! ...or wherever we want, everything should be great, as long as it happens at home, and not in some AT&T store!

Unfortunately, we're not talking about a sure shot yet, but since according to AppleInsider, "multiple sources inside Apple Retail have reported evidence pointing toward a contract free, home activation option for future iPhone 3G sales," I guess most chances are to see this happening pretty soon.

The fact supporting this theory is that Apple Store retail employees claim a new "Home" option appeared in their EasyPay systems, and a logical speculation would be that the 8GB iPhone 3G will dropped, and a new 32GB model will be released, to match the capacities available for the iPod Touch.

Oh, my, iPhone 3G home activation...I hardly wait! After all, if you don't do it yourself, you can say you've done it, right? ;)

Accounting is not one of my passions, that's a sure thing. Not even the fact that, for most accounting tasks, you have to use a computer is going to push my explorations to this area, especially since in some parts of the world, this tasks also involves keeping notes in huge notebooks(yeah, those old notebooks, not these new ones!). Anyway, since I like to discover new applications every day, I will disregard my personal opinion and tell you a few things about QuickBooks Accounting 2009, a new version of the notorious QuickBooks software that is coming to Macs once again, thanks to Intuit!

Although past has shown that Intuit isn't extremely interested in developing Mac products, things are about to change. After all, the Mac software market is slowly taking off, and you should be blind not to notice this, as a software company who kept its Mac products into a "forever beta" stage for a pretty long time.

QuickBooks Accounting 2009 will come right after QuickBooks 2007 for Mac, but it seems those interested in it will only be able to get it two weeks from now. Retailing for the same price as its predecessor, $199.95, QuickBooks 2009 features a whole new interface, and is a Leopard-only product.

This product now integrates with the LightSpeed POS software, allowing small businesses to organize their transactions, reports, and customer data much better than before(while previous versions forced you to browse through countless windows, now you entries can be easily placed into single-page views).

Unfortunately, there's no info about a multi-user version, and rumors say that full file compatibility between the Windows and Mac versions of the software has not been achieved. At last, it seems the Intuit website wasn't updated yet with the latest information about the upcoming product...

Can you believe this? Can you imagine it? I would really like to see you-know-who's face when he finds out they got caught! No matter how strange it may seem, Microsoft loves Macs, since the latest ad released as a part of their advertising assault was edited using Apple computers. No, this is not a joke, and to make it all even more ridiculous, the ad is about "being a PC!" Now, this is something delicious to see happening, especially since there's a full Sunday waiting for us to spend laughing...

"I AM A PC AND I LOVE THIS COMPANY!!!" blows Steve Ballmer off the wall swarming with people saying, basically, about the same - "I am a PC and I do something." Sure you love the company, I guess you also earn in an hour more than most of us do in a month, but I have no problem with that, since the point is that Microsoft is going waaaay off with this whole thing, especially since they must add one new character now, saying "I am a PC and I use Mac OS!"

OK, so this is the story - a Flickr user, LuisDS, discovered that an early edition of the images here - at least the first one, as far as I am concerned, had metadata saying "Adobe Photoshop CS3 Macintosh." Unfortunately, it's obvious Microsoft fixed the error since the first report of the fact appeared online, since now all the print size pictures on the page I mentioned show "Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows" in their metadata.

Well, this is it, guys. One more for the show! At least this advertising campaign from Microsoft gives us a lot of reasons to have fun, although not quite what they expected. If you ask me, the world would appreciate more to give the remaining money out of those 300 millions to the poor, rather than continue to make fools of yourselves and those who are willing to join this interactive campaign.

"I am a PC and I sing in the shower." Yeah, right. I would laugh my ass off to see a testimony saying the following - "I am a PC and I am installing Ubuntu right now!"

I know that for some of you it may seem strange to talk about Google Android here, but here's what I think - if something can have a major influence on Apple, then it deserves to be here. It has to be here! So...what's new about Google Android, after all? Well, the Android vs iPhone 3G battle is already starting, since the pricing for the upcoming mobile has been announced to be on par with that of Apple's smartphone!



As you can see in the movie above, the Google co-branded phone will have a large touchscreen, a trackball for navigation and - thank you, thank you, thank you!!! - a swivel-out full keyboard. If this isn't enough to make it a capable "iPhone killer," here's something more...

...pricing of the HTC-manufacturered device, now also known as "The Dream," will be only $199, requiring a two-year service contract to be signed with T-Mobile upon purchase. Nothing special here, just as it happens with the iPhone but...this phone promises to be more than the iPhone, although it's also going to be quite different, as far as I see it.

The most interesting part about this Google-powered phone is that several applications of the Internet giant will run on it, such as Maps, hopefully GTalk , too, and a competitor to Apple's App Store should be ready in time for the 23rd of September launch. Obviously, the goal is to have a phone on the market and an online marketplace to allow its users to purchase or download free applications from a reliable source.

This may be the key to success for this device and for Google into the mobile world, considering that Apple's App Store has been pushing out apps lately without solid reasons, so... as long as the device sells in large enough numbers to draw the attention of a lot of developers to it, the Dream may become the first device capable to compete with the iPhone AND the App Store, not only with the App Store, as it's happening for all current iPhone 3G rivals.

Do you really want to know what's the best gadget of the year? Are you sure? I don't want to know, but I found out, anyway, and now I will share my info with you. Why wouldn't I want to know such a thing? Well, I have nothing against cool gadgets, but I think the months remaining until 2009 could bring some pleasant surprises for gadget lovers and - why not - something even better than the iPod Touch or the iPhone!

Oh, yeah, I remember now! The best gadget of the year, at least for me, is the high-end PMP from Cowon, expected to drop by in the US in the coming months. I won't tell you anything about it now, since the story is about something that already got the "Gadget of the Year 2008" badge from Stuff Magazine...

...and that gadget is - not a big surprise here - the iPhone 3G! The readers voted the iPhone 3G as the best gadget of the year, placing it ahead of the Microsoft's Xbox 360 console, the Wii Fit add-on from Nintendo, or the B&W Zeppelin iPod speakers. Apart from the "cool factor" every gadget lover has in mind when choosing to buy a new companion, the Stuff Magazine readers also had to take into account value, performance, and design.

While the iPhone 3G managed to snag the Reader's Choice award, the Editorial Award went to the Asus Eee PC. Well, if they managed to do that, I really wonder what could happen if Asus decides one day to release some iPhone competitor...and they make it as good as the Eee PC! :)