Despite a day of wild rumors, SFWeekly is reporting that the San Francisco Police Department did assist Apple investigators when an iPhone prototype device again went missing in a bar late July this year.

Contradicting past statements that no records exist of police involvement in the search for the lost prototype, San Francisco Police Department spokesman Lt. Troy Dangerfield now tells SF Weekly that "three or four" SFPD officers accompanied two Apple security officials in an unusual search of a Bernal Heights man's home. "Apple came to us saying that they were looking for a lost item, and some plainclothes officers responded out to the house with them. My understanding is that they stood outside. They just assisted Apple to the address."

This follows claims that Apple employees had actually impersonated police officers however these now appear to be well wide of the mark. Just as well as that would have been a criminal offence! One thing does remain a bit of a mystery, why did San Francisco Police Department take so long to actually record the incident?

[SFWeekly via MacRumors]

AT&T is finally opening up and coming clean about their sub par service that is offered in areas of New York and San Francisco. Ralph de la Vega, chief executive of AT&T Mobility, recently spoke at a investors conference regarding the poor service.

“This is going to get fixed, in both of those markets, I am very confident that you’re going to see significant progress.”

Obviously this is good news for those of you in these areas. Worse news? AT&T might use "unlimited" to sell you your data plan, but they obviously don't intend for you to use it. And if you do, watch out.

Wireless data hogs who jam the airwaves by watching video on their iPhones will be put on tighter leashes.

Video. The horror!

De la Vega didn't say exactly how or when the carrier would change its policies, but he said some form of usage-based pricing for data is inevitable.

If one stops to think about the other carriers getting more attractive smartphone options and the fact that AT&T's iPhone exclusivity is running thin... AT&T better figure things out and fast.

[Thanks to the Reptile for the tip!]

AT&T announced it's invested nearly $65 million in upgrading their 3G network in San Francisco through Q3 2009:

“More than ever before, customers look to wireless communications to stay in touch with family, friends and business colleagues,” said Terry Stenzel, AT&T vice president and general manager for Northern California/Reno. “The additional spectrum helps to enhance the 3G network so that our customers have the best experience when they make a call, check an e-mail, download a video or song, access applications or surf the Internet on their AT&T device.”

They also mentioned SF will get some HSPA 7.2 next year as well. (First towers to go up around Cupertino in an effort to keep the iPhone-makers happy? We joke.)

Given the last update in AT&T's lawsuit against Verizon's "map for that" commercials, where Verizon basically said AT&T had failed to invest in their network infrastructure, we're wondering if we'll see more press releases like this (or emails like this) in the near future?

[Thanks Gregg for the tip!]

In what might be the first and most widely accessible bit of WWDC schwag, Lonely Planet has made their San Francisco City Guide free for a limited time. [Usually $15.99 - iTunes link]

Whether you're going to San Fran for WWDC, for any reason at any time at all, or just want you some free Golden Gated goodness for your iPhone, go grab it while it lasts!

[Via TUAW, thanks to Jamesus for the tip]

We received a note via Twitter that there may be a problem:

wondering if you've heard any reports of an iPhone service outage in SF Bay Area? My iPhone and 7-8 other friends no service.

Some comments have popped up on older posts making us wonder as well. Anyone in San Francisco or California in general experiencing any AT&T outages? If so, please sound of in the comments and let us know where and when, and whether it's back or not in your area.

And, hey, if this is isolated or already over, outage-fans fear not, there's still CTIA in Las Vegas coming up, and we know what massive amounts of iPhones at big trade shows do to AT&T's network...