You know what's the greatest issue with virtually everything today? Problems don't come right out of nowhere, because a very important percentage of the users of a certain car, laptop, or mobile phone, consider that, if something is not at least as good in every aspect as what they previously owned, then it has problems. For example, the iPhone 3G would be a very capable phone(with or without diamonds), but the BlackBerry did that, that, and that better(most important of all, for me - it has a keyboard!). Now, the iPhone 3G has another competitor offering some of the features Apple didn't manage to add into the package, but if T-Mobile's G1 will be a new and serious iPhone 3G problem or not, that remains to be seen...

First thing I want to tell you now is the iPhone 3G and its road to world domination. I know that most people think the BlackBerry is better for business purposes, but that's not the point - while the BlackBerry has a larger share of the business phones market in the US, you won't see many kids with BlackBerries...

...but the iPhone 3G is expanding its reach extremely fast, since the third and final stage of expansion during this year is getting near, and this time the list of countries to receive the iPhone on the white market includes Russia, Brazil and Egypt. It's interesting to notice that China and Korea are still being kept aside, and I think that when Apple decides to send the iPhone 3G there, it may be too little, too late.

Since I was even able to bet they won't send the iPhone 3G to Africa before Asia, it seems this is happening, because while China and Korea are waiting, countries like Botswana, Cameroon, Central African Republic or Kenya will get it!

All in all, this third expansion phase includes 29 countries, which will bring the total of "iPhone countries" up to 73, by the end of this year.

Good, so the iPhone 3G is spreading all over, and while the first Google Android phone is expected to became officially available through retail channels next month, analysts think this is going to have "little or no impact" on iPhone sales. These being said, let's finally move on to the Android, shall we?

"Curiosity is everywhere, but the answers are right at you fingertips" reads the headline of the official T-Mobile G1 website, and since the features of the long-awaited "Google phone" are no longer subject for speculations, here's what the G1 will offer to its users:

- built-in compass
- 3MP camera
- sliding touchscreen
- full QWERTY keyboard
- trackball for one-handed navigation
- Wi-Fi support
- 3G and EDGE capabilities
- accelerometer(take that, Apple!)
- Office and PDF documents viewing support

Priced at only $179 with a two-year voice and data agreement, the G1 may not be a phone capable to challenge the iPhone 3G, but it's surely going to be a great alternative to it, at least as far as I can figure out. If you ask me, I would gladly choose it over the iPhone 3G, but...worldwide coverage will be the first problem to solve for the Google Android-based phones, and that says it all, for now.

While we talked about the iPhone 3G coverage earlier in this article, let's point out that the G1 will become available in the United Kingdom beginning in November, and in Germany, Austria, Czech Republic and the Netherlands, in the first quarter of 2009. Not quite enough, and a bit late, in my opinion, but it's surely better than nothing!

At last, there's something worth being mentioned, as a closing note - Apple's "Begin at Home" purchasing procedure was officially announced, so that shoppers can enter their billing info and qualify for the subsidized iPhone from their home computer, than simply go to a local Apple store and pick the new phone. Unfortunately, Apple still requires a final in-store activation...

This is all for today, folks, I hope this may clear some things out, or - why not - raise some more questions! Just be sure to remember we're here to help each other, so don't hesitate to drop your comments below! I may not be the Golden Fish, but I am doing my best to please you...

You don't have to own a computer or a smart mobile phone to be able to play pinball, since even most our parents and grandparents played this at least one time, or saw a coin-operated pinball machine in a bar, club or casino. Now, we have a lot of alternatives on PCs and mobile phones, and a game with a interesting twist is the Mystery Mansion Pinball, iPod-flavoured!

Usually, one plays pinball to get a lot of points and, maybe, even beat one of the top 10 times, aiming to become the first one in that top, sooner or later, but those enjoying Mystery Mansion Pinball iPod are more like crusaders against evil. Crusades seem a bit outdated to me, and the endless fight against evil, as well, but if there are chicks involved, let it be...

Here's what the producer says you'll get from this game, although features may be slightly different, depending on the mobile platform you're using - after all, it can be Mystery Mansion Pinball iPod, iPhone, and so on...

- B-Movie Atmosphere: Fun and scary setting with lots of familiar characters—Frankenstein’s monster, werewolves, vampires, etc.
- Design based on the most successful and thrilling real pinball games.
Incorporates the latest pinball machine functionality, such as fun mini-videogames that you can play on the machine’s LED scoreboard.
- Incredible attention to detail to reproduce the real sensation of playing pinball.

While the board and the items are well designed, a little problem for this game could be the scrolling camera, which moves up and down, left and right, up and down, and so on - with the obvious reason of following the ball.

Even more, when playing Mystery Mansion Pinball iPod, you get more than just the main game, since mini-games also popup from time to time, just as you would be playing on a pinball machine scoring screen! This is a interesting addition, and it surely brings a nice break and tempo change.

At last, there's a really funny thing to mention - I don't know exactly how many real pinball machines would be sold if they would keep repeating "I am the devil" over and over again. I am not the religious type, but for God's sake, someone call an exorcist and get rid of this devil who's spoiling much of the fan that can be had by playing Mystery Mansion Pinball iPod!

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!"