Radio Shack is offering $50 in savings on the purchase of a new iPhone 4 or iPhone 3GS at their retail locations (i.e. offline only) until December 11. Better yet, if you have a good condition iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS you want to trade in, they’ll give you another $75 or $125 off respectively. Darren Murph of Engadget does the math on that:

you could walk in today, hand over your 3GS, and walk out with an iPhone 4 for $25 (plus activation fees)

Apparently they’re eating the discount to gain some marketing attention for their wireless business. But chances are you don’t care why — they had you at cheap. Anyone taking them up on the offer?

[Engadget]

I had the pleasure a few months ago of doing some technical editing for Martin Trautschold and Gary Mazo’s new book, iPad Made Simple. It’s now available and here are the details:

iPad Made Simple explains all of the key features of the iPad, introduces what’s new, and reveals dozens of time-saving shortcuts and techniques. The book has over 1,000 screen shots that are carefully annotated with step-by-step instructions. This book will teach you everything you need to know to get the most out of your new iPad. iPad Made Simple provides clear instructions on how to set up and use the iPad, illustrated explanations of all the key features, and hundreds of tips and tricks.

iPad Made Simple teaches readers how to master the new multi-touch display, buy books with iBooks, surf the web, organize and share photos and albums, and how to discover and download great Apps from the App Store. The book also tells users how to squeeze every ounce of power from Email, Calendar, Contacts, and iTunes as well as how to synchronize the iPad with an iPod touch, Windows, or Mac environment.

For any TiPb readers who might be interested in getting a copy of the eBook, perhaps for a friend or loved one so they stop bothering you for tech support, here’s a handy link with a hefty built in 50% discount code:

50% coupon code link for iPad Made Simple eBook

iPhoneinCanada.ca has unconfirmed reports of Rogers discounting the iPhone 3G by $100 for qualified buyers (check the link for what qualifies as qualified).

If anyone can confirm this, let us know in the comments. Is Rogers trying to clear stock in advance of a next generation iPhone release this summer?

Ah, rumor season. Gotta love it!

Now that we’ve successfully giving away over a thousand dollars in iTunes Gift Cards and an iPhone 3G, it’s time for us to take a breather. Thing is, the way we take a breather here at TiPb is to start up another way for you to get what you want for your iPhone. Here’s the deal:

Head on over to our new “iPhone App Lightning Reviews” forum and, you know, post a review of an iPhone app. It can be native or web, legit or jailbroken. Be sure to include some screenshots as attachments — on iPhone 2.0, you can just hold down the home and powerbutton briefly and the screenshot will get saved to your camera album. Keep it around 500ish words, be fair, and try not to all review the same apps — though reviews after major updates are always a good idea. Give it a rating out of 5 stars and a couple pros and cons at the end too, for those crazy skimmers.

…Why would you do all that? Every so often the TiPb staff will be picking our favorites and promoting them to the front page. We’ll thank you by giving back to you. More after the break!

• that unique feeling that comes from having your opinion voiced on the main page of what we think is the best durn iPhone blog around
• the satisfaction of a job well-done
• …and, oh yeah, a 25% off coupon for our iPhone accessory store that you can use yourself or send along to a friend.

Our iPhone accessory store has made the move over from Phone different (We’re all TiPb now, baby!) and is stocked now with bluetooth headsets, wired headphones, and cases compatible with both the 2G and 3G iPhones, with more coming in for the 3G even as you’re reading this post. Just be sure to click on the device selector in the upper-left to chose which iPhone you’re currently rocking to ensure that you’re getting something compatible.

(p.s. we still have a bug for Safari users that’s preventing uploads, we’re working on it. But the iPhone-ified version of the forums should officially be bug free — if it ain’t hit us up at news@theiphoneblog.com to let us know. Update: Fixed!)