A new jailbreak tweak called Quasar will let you have multiple apps open and running at the same time. If you've always yearned for the opportunity to have your iPad work more like a desktop OS like Windows or OS X, Quasar could be just what you've been looking for.

Quasar is (the very first) window manager for iPad! Now you can run apps in windows, on your iPad! Simply open any application and it will be opened in a window, just like in your computer. Quasar is integrated to iOS's default app switcher (double pressing home button). Killing an application in app switcher (or holding the close button) kills its window and the application itself, but if you only click the close button, the window is closed but the application keeps running in background (in the app switcher).

Quasar is a version 1.0 jailbreak app and to be fair you can tell. It crashed the springboard a few times when I was playing with it and froze a couple of times too. There are weird rotations and portrait bugs as seen in the video are quite annoying too. Having said that, this could potentially be a game changer as and when it's quirks have been ironed out.

Quasar is available through Cydia for $9.99 and is for the iPad only running iOS 5 or higher.

UPDATE: The developer has already released an update and fixed some of the bugs that we experienced in the demo video. The orientation and rotation bugs are now fixed along with a few other things too. Good to see such speedy bug fixes!

Splashtop's desktop-to-mobile virtualization app has just perversely enabled users to access their Windows 8 PC desktop on their iPad. Of course, this sort of VPN is nothing new, but it is the first time we're seeing it with Windows 8, much of which was designed specifically for touch input. It looks like all of the gestures are there, including multitouch to reposition tiles, leftwards swipes to go back a step, dual-pane multitasking, menu options on the right side, and icon options from the bottom. Latency seems low, which means it's responsive enough to at least play a simple pinball game.

Even as Apple fans, it's hard to ignore that Windows 8 actually looks pretty awesome, and if you can have a reliable, consistent experience with it through Splashtop while still having full access to the perks of iOS, I'm tempted to give it a shot.  Of course, for this particular set up, you need to have Splashtop installed on your existing Windows 8 computer (unlike OnLive, which hosts the remote Windows machine for you). It's worth noting that since Windows 8 is still technically in a developer beta, Splashtop is gearing this towards programmers who are interested in testing their apps in a touch environment.

If you're interested in giving this a shot, the Win8 Metro Testbed for Splashtop is currently half off, but even then, it's a little steep at $24.99. In any case, Splashtop's Win8 Metro Testbed looks like it works well enough. How many of you iPad owners out there are still using a Windows machine? Are you tempted to give Windows 8 a shot? Maybe there are even a few of you thinking of switching away from Mac...

$24.99 - Download now

If you're looking for alternatives, iTap Mobile has an app for $11.99 that uses the RDP protocol, which is native to Windows, so it doesn't need something installed on the PC. RDP also captures the vectors of open windows rather than simply streaming a live image of the screen, which means reduced latency and improved responsiveness. Unfortunately, iTap doesn't list support for Windows 8 yet, but Windows 8 supports RDP - it should work, right?

$11.99 - Download now

Source: Splashtop Blog

Sure iPhones and iPads are made by Apple, but many if not most iOS users are also Windows users, and just today Microsoft has made their next-generation operating system available for test driving via the Windows 8 Consumer Preview.

It's Windows reimagined and reinvented from a solid core of Windows 7 speed and reliability. It's an all-new touch interface. It's a new Windows for new devices. And it's your chance to be one of the first to try it out.

That all-new touch interface is Metro, brought over from Windows Phone 7 and designed to make everything from ultralight slates to full on desktops are easy and fun to use as Microsoft's mobile offerings have become.

It's a a similar end-goal if decidedly different approach than Apple is taking with iOS and the upcoming OS X Mountain Lion -- making computing more consistent and accessible to mainstream users.

Microsoft has a lot of good information -- and tons of videos -- up on their Windows 8 Consumer Preview website, including how to get started, rundowns of all the key features including apps, web, and the cloud, as well as an FAQ to help you out.

Windows 8 will also work on tablets, and on the same ARM-based chipsets that other mobile devices do, meaning it finally lets Microsoft field a true competitor to the iPad. Given Windows' massive install base, especially in enterprise, that could prove interesting. More interesting, however, is the clearly consumer-centric -- it's right there in the name -- focus of this preview. Microsoft is bringing the fight for mainstream computing right to Apple. And they're doing it with style.

How well do Metro and multitouch translate to the PC? Can mobile and desktop, finger and mouse pointer, really live together with no compromises at all? If you've got a spare box or room for another virtual machine, get the Consumer Preview, give it a spin, and let us know.

(Also let us know how iTunes works, or doesn't work, and how happy you are iOS has gone PC free!)

Download: Windows 8 Consumer Preview

[Direct link to video]

Microsoft has rolled out its popular MSN app to the USA and Canada. It was originally launched at the end of January as a UK only release. The MSN app brings you all of the latest news, sports, entertainment and much more form the Microsoft network in a beautiful, magazine style layout on your iPad.

MSN is now available on your iPad – easily swipe to find your favorite news, sports entertainment, autos and money articles & videos in one place. Easily share what you find with your friends on Facebook,Twitter or e-mail a link to the article. Of course you can view articles, photos and videos in either portrait or landscape modes with MSN for iPad. Need to dig deeper on something you just read? We’ve built Bing right into the top of the app for easy searching.

The app will also let you gain access to your Hotmail accounts and Windows Live Messenger. It is a well laid out application that makes full use of the iPad’s screen and touch interface. The screen is split into small rows which you an flick through to find an article of interest. You can even download the whole days news for offline reading later. Microsoft has made a very nice news application for the iPad.

Free – Download Now

We finally got an untethered jailbreak for iPhone 4S and iPad 2 yesterday via Greenpois0n Absinthe. Until now the tool was only released for Mac users. It has now been updated with support for Windows users.

If you haven't already jailbroken your device via redsn0w CLI 0.4.3, I'd recommend using this method. Hit the links below for instructions and a download link.

• Download Greepois0n Absinthe
• How to jailbreak iPhone 4S and iPad 2 on iOS 5.0 & 5.0.1 via Greenpois0n Absinthe
• Jailbreak help and discussion forums

If you're running Windows, you can now jailbreak your iPhone 4S or iPad 2 on iOS 5.0 or iOS 5.0.1. The Dev Team has issued an update to redsn0w that adds support. This process isn't as easy as a simple one click tool like Greenpois0n Absinthe but if you absolutely can't wait any longer to jailbreak, we've got you covered.

• How to jailbreak iPhone 4S and iPad 2 on Windows (CLI method)
• Jailbreak help & discussion
• iMore software downloads page

MacWorld's Jason Snell has written up a quick way to force your local Windows or Mac iTunes library to upgrade all your songs to the 256kbps iTunes Match versions. If you're still syncing your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad to iTunes via USB or via the new Wi-Fi sync, it's a quick way to get them on your device(s) as well.

While iTunes Match makes the -- often higher quality -- tracks available in iCloud, it keeps the local -- often lower quality -- track on your actual drive until you tell it otherwise. If you have thousands of tracks, that could be a long process.

Snell's tip involves creating a Smart Playlist or two and having the courage to delete all your local versions, trusting iCloud will replace them. If that doesn't scare you off, hit the link below and get your upgrade going fast.

Source: MacWorld

Apple has released iTunes 10.5.1 and along with it, their paid music locker service in the U.S., iTunes Match. Coming after several extended betas, and past the previously announced October time frame, iTunes Match costs 24.99 a year and allows users to scan their iTunes libraries and either gain access to matching, 256kbps tracks from the iTunes Catalog, or upload their own, off-catalog tracks for access from any iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or iTunes client on Mac or Windows.

Introducing iTunes Match. Store your entire music library in iCloud, including music you've imported from CDs, and enjoy your collection anywhere, anytime, on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, computer, or Apple TV.

So if you've been eagerly waiting to get your music to the cloud, hit software update or download directly via the link below. Then come back here and tell us what you think. Did Apple get it right?

UPDATE 1: iTunes is currently saying no new subscriptions are available due to overwhelming demand, and is asking users to check back in a hour. Let us know if you get signed up, and how long it takes!

UPDATE 2: Here's our official TiPb iTunes Match troubleshooting thread in the forums to give and get extra help!

• How to subscribe to and set up iTunes Match
• http://www.imore.com/2011/11/16/daily-tip-set-itunes-match-iphone-ipad-ipod-touch/

Apple has released its iCloud Control Panel app for Microsoft Windows computers. The iCloud Control Panel is required to enable iCloud on your Windows PC and provides access to Photo Stream, Contacts, Calendars Bookmarks and Mail.

It is quite a large download, coming in at just under 40MB.

If you need extra help, jump into our iCloud Forums.

If you've got the iOS 5 GM seed on your iOS device, you can now jailbreak via RedSn0w 0.9.9b3. This one is also tethered like the previous beta versions of RedSn0w for iOS 5.

Be advised that not all jailbreak apps and tweaks have been updated to support iOS 5. If you’re alright with running tethered and don’t mind a few bugs here and there, follow along for a quick walkthrough.

By this point, almost anyone jailbreaking is already familiar with RedSn0w and how it works. It’s not too much different this time except that RedSn0w has a nifty little tool to automatically detect the iOS 5 GM IPSW which makes the process a bit smoother.

Devices Supported

• iPod touch 3G
• iPod touch 4G
• iPad 1
• iPhone3GS
• iPhone4 (GSM)
• iPhone4 (CDMA)

And I can’t say this enough times, if your device is not listed above, please do not attempt to jailbreak it on any version of iOS 5! And if you rely on a software unlock and don't have an older boot rom, stay away from iOS 5 altogether.

What you need

• iOS 5 GM seed installed on your device from the Apple Developer Portal - Developer license required
• iTunes beta 7 for either Windows or Mac from the Apple Developer Portal - Developer license required
• RedSn0w 0.9.9b3 – Mac Link, Windows Link

After you have iOS 5 GM installed on your device, your device backed up, and your version of iTunes upgraded to the newest beta version, follow the steps below to jailbreak.

1. First Launch RedSn0w

2. This version automatically detects your IPSW unlike older versions of RedSnow. Just click Jailbreak and follow the prompts.
3. After RedSn0w finishes doing it's thing, you're done!

4. Next you may need to perform a tethered boot. If you do, simply open RedSn0w again and click Extras and then Just Boot
5. Your phone will perform a tethered boot and you should be good to go!

RedSn0w has also thrown in a little bonus for Windows users. You can copy the redsnow.exe file to your desktop or anywhere you like and rename it something like justboot.exe. As long as you have the word "boot" in the file name you can just double click that file to perform a quick tethered boot with RedSn0w.

That's it boys and girls. If you need any help, be sure to check out our TiPb jailbreak forums. Until next time, happy jailbreaking!

Daily Tips range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

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Marc, Seth, and Rene iterate through Windows 8 and Metro, whether should designers know how to code, tool tips yay or nay, and asset export redux, and interrogate Mark Jardine about Tapbots and their distinctively delightful iPhone and iPad apps. This is Iterate!

Users of the well known Mac virtual machine software Parallels can now purchase an updated Parallels Mobile from the App Store for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. It will allow you to not only access any of your Parallels virtual machines -- for example, that Windows 7 you're running on your MacBook -- from your device, but also control your Mac as well. Simply log in to your Parallels account and you'll have instant access.

Parallels Mobile offers the following features:

• Use any of your Windows applications, from Internet Explorer to Outlook
• Remotely start, stop any of your applications.
• Stay connected via WiFi or 3G networks
• Control your Mac just like you control Windows (Parallels Desktop 7 only)
• Play back music and audio files remotely - see and hear Flash video on your iPad or iPhone (Parallels Desktop 7 only)
• Copy and paste text between your mobile device and Windows programs (Parallels Desktop 7 only)

There isn't support for Windows Aero and some features depend upon the version of Parallels Desktop you have installed. It's available in the App Store for an introductory price of $4.99. Standard pricing will be $19.99.

[$4.99 - App Store Link]]

Sn0wBreeze for Windows users has now officially been updated to support iOS 5 beta 6 users. We reported the old version of Sn0wBreeze already working for some users, yet others had complications. But the tool has now been updated to officially support beta 6.

Yes the jailbreak is still tethered (with the exception of old bootrom iPhone 3GS users). This version of Sn0wBreeze not only lets you jailbreak iOS 5 beta 6, it will also allow you to skip the UDID check. This basically means you can install the beta without having a developer's license. (We don't condone this but to each their own.) Sn0wBreeze will also preserve your baseband like before and allow "hacktivation". The following devices are supported -

• Original iPad
• iPhone 3GS (if you had the older bootrom it will also be untethered)
• iPhone 4 (GSM)
• iPhone 4 (CDMA)
• iPod Touch 3G
• iPod Touch 4

Keep in mind that not only is iOS 5 still in beta but that these jailbreaks are also beta. So if you're not afraid of some bugs and are already aware of the risks involved, simply hit the link below to download the updated version of Sn0wBreeze.

[Sn0wBreeze 2.8b6 download link]

Those of you on iOS 5 beta 5 that aren't able to take advantage of Redsn0w for Mac users are in luck. Sn0wbreeze 2.8 beta 5 has been updated to support beta 5 for Windows users by its creator, iH8sn0w.

Sn0wbreeze will work to jailbreak the following devices on iOS 5 beta 5:

• iPhone 3GS (old & new boot roms)
• iPhone 4 (GSM)
• iPhone 4 (CDMA)
• iPad original
• iPod Touch 3rd generation
• iPod Touch 4th generation

iPad 2 is not supported and it's also worth noting that this jailbreak is tethered.

Note: This version of Sn0wbreeze also allows non-developers to pass the UDID check and "hacktivate" their devices. It will also remove the "beta timer" Apple has so you won't be forced to upgrade or plug into iTunes if you don't update by Apple's beta deadlines. TiPb DOES NOT recommend anyone do this. iOS 5 is in beta for a reason -- it's not ready for mainstream use on your daily phone. It will frustrate you. Things won't work. Apps will crash or not function. If you're not a developer who needs to test iOS 5 SDK apps, or Jailbreak developer testing out next generation tweaks, you'll be happier if you stay away until the final version is ready.

[Sn0wbreeze 2.8 beta 5 download]

Since Apple recently released iOS 5 beta 3, you may be wondering whether or not you can jailbreak as you could with beta 1 and beta 2. Fortunately, beta 3 is also jailbreakable.

But again, we'll warn you that beta software has its own qualms to begin with so if you're not comfortable with a few more bugs, we urge you to stay away. Also keep in mind a lot of jailbreak tweaks and apps have not yet been updated to support iOS 5. If you absolutely need to get your beta jailbreak on, follow along for another walk-through.

Devices supported

• iPod touch 3G
• iPod touch 4G
• iPad 1
• iPhone3GS
• iPhone4 (GSM)
• iPhone4 (CDMA)

If your device is not listed above, please do not attempt to jailbreak your device. So yes, iPad 2 owners will have to wait or jailbreak iPad via JailbreakMe on iOS 4.3.3.

1. First you will need to download Redsn0w 0.9.8b2 - Mac Link, Windows Link
2. Next you will need to make sure you have the iOS beta 1 firmware file from the Apple Developer Portal or wherever else you choose to find it.

3. Launch Redsn0w. You should be asked to navigate to the firmware file from the previous step. Select it and click next.

4. Once you click next, Redsn0w will take a minute to do it's thing. You should see a patching kernel message and that Redsn0w successfully recognized your firmware.

5. Next select the options you'd like Redsn0w to perform. I typically only select Install Cydia. It's worth noting that this is where you will perform a tethered boot if needed as well. You will just select Just boot tethered for now if you need to do this or your device reboots or dies.

6. Redsn0w will now walk you through putting your device into DFU mode

7. After you're successfully in DFU mode, simply let Redsn0w do its thing and you're done!

Have you jailbroken iOS 5 beta 3 yet? Let us know your results and about any bugs you find. If you're having issues, don't be shy! Ask for help in our official TiPb Jailbreak & Unlock forums.

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you'd like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to news@tipb.com. (If it's especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we'll even give ya a reward...)

Remote Potato HD is coming soon for the iPad and if you’re a Windows Media Center user this could be the perfect app. With Remote Potato HD you can browse and stream all of your Windows Media Center content directly to your iPad in high resolution; locally or over the internet. You can also access your Media Center EPG (Electronic Program Guide) and schedule recordings all from within the app.

Another great feature, if you have an Apple TV, is AirPlay. As Remote Potato HD uses the Apple video player, to play back content, AirPlay can be used to stream to your Apple TV 2. This would enable your Apple TV to become a type of Media Center Extender.

In order to use the app with your Media Center system, you will have to install an application that handles the streaming and transcoding. This is available free from Remote Potato. The app has already been submitted to Apple for approval; so expect it to arrive any day now. No news on pricing yet but the existing version for iPhone and iPod touch is priced at $6.99.

There is a video demo of the app after the break. It looks like a fantastic solution; if you are a Windows Media Center and iPad user. I will be trying this one out as soon as it is available!

[Remote Potato via The Digital Lifestyle]

Having second thoughts about iTunes 10.5 beat and wondering how to downgrade back to 10.3 on Windows? If you decided to take the plunge and try out the beta of iOS 5, you must also have upgraded your iTunes software to 10.5 beta. We have already covered how to downgrade your iPhone from iOS 5 to iOS 4.3.3 but what if you want to downgrade iTunes too? Well below is a guide to help you do just that.

A word of warning; before you start. This worked for me and should work for you too however there is always an element of risk, especially if you have a lot of content stored in iTunes. If you still want to go ahead and try it, read on after the break!

• Download the latest full build of iTunes here

• While that’s downloading, take an optional step to ensure your media is safe. Locate your iTunes folder which should be in C:\My Documents\My Music or C:\Users(your username)\Music in Windows 7. Copy the folder to another location just in case.
• Open Control Panel, Programs and Features and uninstall the following entries:-

1. Apple Application Support
2. Apple Mobile Device Support
3. Apple Software Update
4. iTunes

• Once all of them have been uninstalled, install and run CC Cleaner which will remove any registry entries associated with uninstalled programs. You can download it from here.

• Now reboot your Windows PC

• Once you are logged back in, go back to the location of your iTunes folder (Not the backup you made earlier) and find the file named iTunes Library.itl and rename it to iTunes Library.itl.old

• Open the folder Previous iTunes Libraries and find the file with the latest date prior to upgrading to iTunes 10.5 beta. In my case it was iTunes Library 2011-06-10.itl

• Copy the file and paste it into the root of the iTunes folder. When it has finished copying, rename it to iTunes Library.itl

• Install the downloaded version of iTunes from step 1

• That's it, you should be done!

If any of our readers take the plunge and try this out, let us know how you get on in the comments. If you know of an easier method, again please let us know!

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to news@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

This year at WWDC 2011 Apple announced iMessage, a BBM-like instant messaging service built right into the SMS/MMS app. They also built Twitter right into the OS, for clip sharing in Safari, Photos, etc. and come this fall, authentication for the official Twitter app and others. Last year at WWDC 2010 they introduced FaceTime, a video calling service that existed first in the Phone app, then later in its own app on iPod touch, Mac, and iPad. Back in 2002, Apple introduced iChat, an instant messaging service that eventually gained video calling and video conferencing support, as well as desktop sharing and more.

iMessages is proprietary and only on iOS right now. Twitter is proprietary but cross-platform. FaceTime is a collection of open standards that Apple has promised to release the specs for but hasn't as of yet. It's also iOS and Mac OS X only right now. iChat uses both proprietary (like AIM) and open (like Jabber) protocols, with different level of feature and functionality support depending on which you use (though you can use more than one). It's Mac only, but the protocols can be used in other apps on other platforms.

iMessage and FaceTime can both use the same Apple ID, and I can launch into FaceTime via a button in iMessage, but they don't really work together, not the way Skype calls and chat do, for example. Twitter is treated like a separate systems, and iChat is an island all its own.

I can't iMessage someone on Mac or Windows. I can't iChat someone on iOS unless they install a 3rd party app like BeeJive or AIM, and I can't easily switch between text video/voice in the same app.

iChat on Mac OS X could conceivably become a blended iMessage and FaceTime client. Change iChat's name to iMessage and have FaceTime calls as easy to launch from Mac OS X (and hopefully Windows one day) as they are on iOS. Add a similar way to switch back from FaceTime and things might "just work" better.

However, Apple seems to be improving the iChat app in Mac OS X Lion all on its own, with no iMessage or FaceTime support in sight. So that doesn't look like an immediate possibility.

Hopefully Apple is working on this, and we won't have to wait for iOS 7 and Mac OS X 10.8 to get a grand, unified messaging system.

A couple of cheeky German guys decided to have a bit of fun this weekend by defacing the under construction Apple Store in Hamburg with a Windows logo.

Now before we get too upset by this, when we say deface it, it was more a bit of fun with no permanent lasting damage. Posing as a couple of construction workers, they climbed a ladder and pieced together a poor attempt at a Windows Logo.

In fact if you wanted to be really mean, you could say that this is an excellent deterrent to any would-be thieves! Take a look at the video after the break!

[9to5Mac]

.wav from .wav on Vimeo.

AirPlay is now available for your Windows Media Center box. It was only a matter of time after the AirPlay encryption keys were cracked that we would start to see AirPlay appearing on other platforms. Now it has been ported to the very popular Windows Media Center.

Developer Thomas Pleasance has put together a simple install package that does its magic and sure enough, once installed, your Media Center box appears on your iOS device as AirPlay capable.

I have tested AirPlay on my Windows 7 Media Center box and it works very very well. There is currently no support for music streaming or video content which contains DRM; such as iTunes purchased content. Photos, YouTube and any other video content seem to work perfectly. The software is currently in beta but don’t let that put you off!

Do any of our readers use Windows Media Center? Will you be giving this a whirl?

[Thomas Pleasance via The Digital Lifestyle]

Apple has released an update to its MobileMe control panel specifically for Windows machines. The update (Version 1.6.6) is aimed at Outlook users who have been experiencing problems syncing their calendars with the MobileMe web app calendar.

The new update fixes issues and improves reliability for the new MobileMe Calendar in Outlook.

[Apple Support via @9to5Mac]

If you've been waiting on the Windows version of greenpois0n RC5, the iOS 4.2.1 untethered Jailbreak for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad then good news -- it's live!

Ally's already posted how to jailbreak iOS 4.2.1 iPhone, iPad untethered via greenpois0n for the Mac and the Windows version shouldn't be too different. If you have any trouble just read through the comments or check out the Jailbreak Forum.

Grab greenpois0n via the link below and let us know how it works for you!

Microsoft has started it's war against Apple's iPad, handing their reseller partners material to show their customers pointing to why the iPad is not the solution they should be using for their enterprise needs. Distributed starting around December of last year, the material lists reasons why people should either move away from the iPad for enterprise needs or why they should not go towards the iPad in the first place.

Absent from the anti-iPad materials seems to be information on what Microsoft plans to utilize on their own future tablets to combat the 7.3 million iPads sold in Q1 2011. Given past demos of Windows 7 tablets, most notably the HP Slate tablet, were far from touch friendly, and Steve Ballmer keeps insisting the touch-optimized Windows Phone 7 platform is staying put, that leaves Windows 8 on the table... when it gets ARM optimized in 2 years...

Meanwhile Apple is citing an unprecedented enterprise adoption rate with over 80% of Fortune 100 companies piloting or actively deploying iPad already. Microsoft is right to be worried but are these PowerPoint slides enough or do they have to field an actual device to compete with Apple?

[ ZDNet ]

Apple released firmware updates for both the AirPort Wi-Fi router and Time Capsule router + hard drive combo today to version 7.5.2, in part to fix AirPlay bugs that prevented some users from properly streaming content from their iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad to their Apple TV.

• General fixes to Wi-Fi base station stability
• General fixes with USB interoperability including connection to external storage devices
• Fixes some issues with NAT port mapping settings
• Disables TKIP security with 802.11n rates per the Wi-Fi Alliance specifications

Apple also updated the Airport Utility for both Mac and Windows to version 5.5.2.

• Resolves an issue that caused the DHCP settings tab to display incorrectly
• Resolves an issue that caused the application to quit unexpectedly when automatically launched
• Resolves an issue that prevented the network password from being stored in the Keychain when the network on the 5GHz band was named differently

Were you having any issues with AirPlay? If so, does the update correct them?

[TUAW x2]

Screens from Edovia is a new, gorgeously designed, super simple VNC client that brings your Windows, Mac, or Linux desktop to your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. I had the good fortune to test drive it through the beta cycle and it really is the closest thing to a Back to my Mac-style, "it just works" experience on iOS. Features include:

• Universal - Screens will run on both iPhone and iPad - one app for both devices.
• Easy to Use - Screens is the easiest, most user friendly VNC client for iOS.
• Secure - Screens can connect to your computer through a SSH Tunnel so your session is encrypted and safe.
• Pull-to-Dock - Your Dock is hidden? No problem! Screens can make it appear with a simple flick!
• Multi-Touch - Screens supports many multi-touch features your already use on your trackpad.
• Screens Connect - Make your computer available from anywhere. Easy as flicking a switch! No messy router setup. (Requires OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard)

It's on introductory sale right now so if you act fast, you can save $10 off the regular price.

Screenshots after the break. If you want to run your desktop -- or server room -- from your lounge chair, and do it in pixel-perfect style, check out Screens. And after you do, come back and tell me what you think.

[$14.99 on sale - iTunes link]

Microsoft has officially conceded the fact that the Apple's iPad is eating into Windows-powered netbook sales, according to Gavriella Schuster, General Manager for Windows product management with Microsoft:

But the success of the Apple iPad, and the impending Google Android tablets, are beginning to threaten Windows' hold on the "and" PC market. These [Netbooks] are definitely getting cannibalized. These are really a second device. But they are getting cannibalized.

Microsoft labels netbooks as "and" devices, meaning they aren't full-fledged PCs but rather augment a user's computer. However, these 'secondary device' sales are being devoured by Apple as a result of their success with the iPad. With the addition of iOS 4.2 coming very soon, essentially adding a multitude of features to an already feature-packed device, we only see this cannibalization progressing. Jonny Evans from ComputerWorld had this to say:

Sales in the netbook segment will continue to dwindle, and as mobile solutions continue to innovate and expand their market, eventually low-tier tablet devices will debut which will more than replace the remnants of the netbook market.

Remember, the iPad is currently believed to hold a 95% share of the tablet market, and over 20% of all consumers plan on purchasing an iPad in the future. Could the iPad eventually send the netbook to its grave?

[The Seattle PI via ComputerWorld]

Redsn0w -- the lightweight, multi-platform jailbreaking, unlocking and customizing tool for the iPhone 2G, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPod touch 1G, iPod touch 2G, and iPod touch 3G -- has been updated to 0.9.6 Beta2, which allows Custom IPSW installation with Windows. Missing from this update is iPad and AppleTV support, which is currently supported by pwnagetool for OSX, but word is that chpwn is working on a windows version of pwnagetool.

Redsn0w can be used to install custom IPSWs that will keep your baseband firmware from updating and allowing you to unlock with ultrasn0w. Redsn0w works by putting your device into a special DFU mode which is required for installation of custom IPSWs.

The iPhone Dev-Team has also posted an update on redsn0w+limera1n fun:

It looks like geohot’s recent limera1n exploit for iPhone3GS/iPhone4/iPad/ipt3g/ipt4g/atv2g will be very beneficial to jailbreakers and unlockers for the next few months (at least). geohot’s limera1n program and the alternative greenpois1on program both use his same exploit (although greenpois0n refuses to tell you that, FWIW), and hopefully SHAtter can be saved for some later device.

Were you waiting for a Windows version of custom IPSW installation or are you waiting for iOS 4.2? Let us know...

[Redsn0w, Dev-Team Blog]

Apple has just announced an update for Safari 5 that enables extensions (plugins), something Mozilla's Firefox and Google's Chrome have had for a while now. We're happy for our big desktop brothers, of course. Really. Truly. But in our minds a lot of the stuff you'll read about after the break would be even better suited on mobile devices like iPhone and iPad. That's where convenient extensions like password managers would shine.

Maybe iOS 5?

Read on for the good bits from the presser.

[Apple PR, Apple Safari Extensions Gallery]

“Safari 5 has been a big hit, and user response to the innovative new Safari Reader has been fantastic,” said Brian Croll, Apple’s vice president of OS X Product Marketing. “We’re thrilled to see so many leading developers creating great extensions and think our users are going to love being able to customize Safari.”

“Millions of our customers already use Amazon Wish Lists to store items they want to buy for themselves or receive as gifts,” said Gianna Puerini, vice president of Worldwide Design and Community at Amazon.com. “With Safari 5, we were able to quickly build the Add to Amazon Wish List extension that lets customers add items from any website to their Amazon Wish List with the click of a button.”

“We’re excited to continue working closely with Apple to bring visually compelling Bing experiences to Safari,” said Jeff Henshaw, general manager of Bing User Experience. “The Bing Extension for Safari brings Bing search intelligence to everyday browsing with Safari. When a user selects text in Safari, Bing instantly recognizes what they might need and pops up helpful, informative tips, from real time maps and driving directions to real time translations to direct web search results.”

“Using web standard technologies and Safari’s extension builder, we developed an MLB.com extension to give fans another way to consume up-to-the-moment baseball content, including live look-ins to games, right from the Safari toolbar,” said Noah Garden, executive vice president, Commerce and Sponsorship at MLB.com.

The Safari Extensions Gallery is accessible from the Safari menu or at extensions.apple.com. Users can download and install extensions from the gallery with a single click, and there’s no need to restart the browser. Extensions can be automatically updated and are easily managed within Safari. Users can enable or disable individual extensions, or turn off all extensions with one click.

Safari Extensions are built with HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript web standards, and can have all the power and functionality of advanced web applications. Every Safari Extension is signed with a digital certificate from Apple to prevent tampering and to verify that updates to the extension are from the original developer. Safari Extensions are sandboxed, so they can’t access information on a user’s system or communicate with websites aside from those specified by the developer. For increased stability, Safari Extensions run solely in the browser. “Our extension for Safari is a great way for readers to get all of the latest breaking news and all the important stories, blogs and columns they want to see,” said Denise Warren, general manager, NYTimes.com at The New York Times Company. “While you browse other sites in Safari, our extension checks for updates and slides in new headlines and thumbnails, so you won't miss a thing.”

“Creating our Twitter extension in Safari couldn't have been easier,” said Jason Goldman, vice president of Product at Twitter. “By providing features like the ability to tweet about a page and view trending topics, we've created a simple way to deliver relevant, interesting content to people regardless of where they are on the web.”

The Safari Extensions Gallery is accessible from the Safari menu or at extensions.apple.com. Users can download and install extensions from the gallery with a single click, and there’s no need to restart the browser. Extensions can be automatically updated and are easily managed within Safari. Users can enable or disable individual extensions, or turn off all extensions with one click.

Safari Extensions are built with HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript web standards, and can have all the power and functionality of advanced web applications. Every Safari Extension is signed with a digital certificate from Apple to prevent tampering and to verify that updates to the extension are from the original developer. Safari Extensions are sandboxed, so they can’t access information on a user’s system or communicate with websites aside from those specified by the developer. For increased stability, Safari Extensions run solely in the browser.

Brad Wardell is CEO of Stardock and a well known Windows developer who has just spent 3 weeks with the iPad and been impressed with its instant-on capabilities for email, rss, web browsing, video watching, social networking, and otherwise consuming content to the extent he thinks it may spell the beginning of the end for desktop Windows dominance.

I love my ThinkPad T400. But when I go to it, I have to pray whether it’ll come out of sleep. If it does come out of sleep, it’ll be slow. Maybe it will be out of batteries. Who knows. What I do know is that it’s far too slow as a consumer device. Netbooks are even worse. It seems like such a little thing – instant on. But it’s the difference between a DVR and a VCR in terms of leap of effective functionality.

He also likes that developers can make a lot of cool $2 apps. His take away:

The 3 things I mention here are so outshine the Windows PC experience that if Microsoft doesn’t get off its duff and start addressing them soon then I predict Windows will become purely a content creation device whose content is primarily consumed elsewhere. There’s really no excuse that in 2010, Windows is in the shape its in (particularly with regard to instant on).

I use Mac far more than Windows these days, but if I'm not doing hardcore content creation, I'm closing the lid and picking up my iPad. It's just that convenient.

[Brad Wardell via Daring Fireball]

Windows Weekly co-host Paul Thurrott, who was initially nonplussed about Apple's iPad but is slightly warming to the device, has linked to a blog post from Bill Hill, former head of ClearType at Microsoft, who offers:

I predict it will be a huge success. It will cause the same kind of mayhem among TabletPC and eBook manufacturers that the iPod and iPhone did in their respective market categories.

Hill cites the great look, but says more importantly Apple understands the transition from "computing devices" to "consumer devices", while the Kindle was merely a "transitional device" while TabletPC were basically laptop PC's with tablet functionality grafted on.

The only doubts he has is in Apple's "clone" of his Microsoft ClearType, which he claims blurs at small sizes and on lower-pitch screens like the iPad's 132ppi. It might make sustained reading less enjoyable. All around he seems bullish, however, running Windows on a MacBook Pro, and now using an iPhone as well:

last week I dropped my Windows Mobile phone in the water. It was DOA when brought back to the surface. So now I need a new phone. No way am I buying a Windows Mobile replacement. I really grew to hate that phone. I've checked out the new Google phones, and I don't like them much either. No, I want a great customer experience - so I'll go with Apple.

I'm not an Apple Fanboy. But you have to give credit where it's due. From being browbeaten into a mere 2-3% PC market share several years ago, Apple has parlayed its expertise in "consumer computing" into astounding success. I expect the iPad to continue that success.

The pixel density is an interesting concern, especially from someone of Hill's background. The iPhone is 163ppi, the iPod nano 204ppi. Anyone think 132ppi will give them problems?

If you're an iPhone user running Windows and Apple's new Magic Mouse made you ache for a little taste of that multi-touch goodness on the desktop as well, you're in luck! No, Apple didn't provide support themselves, but the enterprising folks over at UneasySilence showed -- there's a hack for that!

Thanks to a little hackery from Apple’s Bluetooth Update (located here) the Magic Mouses driver was extracted via WinRar resulting in a 32bit version and a 64bit version that you can install on any ordinary Windows PC that will enable all the scrolling ‘magic’ of the Magic Mouse.

I'm loving my Magic Mouse on Mac OS X -- inertial scrolling is awesome -- and I'm looking forward to trying it out on my Win-box when I get back to work on Monday. If you beat me to it, let me know how it works for you!

[Thanks to our buddy Phil from WMExperts for the tip!]

iPhone hacker, geohot, has released blackra1n RC2 for your enjoyment. It corrects a few small bugs from the first release and can be downloaded here.

• Fixed 3G issues
• Tethered jailbreak for 3.1 OOTB ipt 8GB and new 3GSes
• Fixed icy issues
• Both Windows and Mac
• If you used RC1 with success, no need to rerun

So nothing earth shattering but it is worth a mention and on the unlock side, geohot is not working on that but the Dev Teams MuscleNerd is. So rest be assured an unlock is being worked on, we just have to be patient.

[Via TiPb Forums]

Attention iPhone users on Microsoft Windows, Apple's MobileMe News "blog" has announced an update to the MobileMe Control Panel:

With the new MobileMe Control Panel for Windows version 1.5 you can assign your primary MobileMe calendar to sync with the default calendar in Microsoft Outlook. Any other MobileMe calendars you have will continue to sync with Outlook and appear as separate calendars. The new control panel also delivers improvements for syncing bookmarks between Internet Explorer and Safari, and provides compatibility with Windows 7.

iTunes 9 will install the new control panel automagically for current users. For new users, Apple provides separate install instructions.

Let us know how it works for you!

I forget if this brings us 4 minutes to midnight or only 5 on the official app-ocalypse clock, but duck and cover because Windows 95 has been ported to run on an iPhone.

Ish. Gizmodo, via GoodiPhone, has the deets:

The hack makes use of a standard Windows 95 image and the Bochs emulator, though as you can expect, the performance is thoroughly crummy. They're working on getting Windows XP to work too. An abomination, I say.

So say we all.

But hey, at least it wasn't Windows ME...

Disclaimer - Neither TiPb nor I take any responsibility for any problems/issues/bricking/etc. that may occur while using this software to modify your iPhone. Please be aware of what you are doing. This will NOT work with iPhone 3GS.

There has been a lot of buzz going on in the forums regarding jailbreaking the iPhone 3.0 software lately, and a lot of questions to go along with it!. Today we’re going to take a deeper look at the exact steps you have to take to get your iPhone 3G with the 3.0 software, jailbroken on your Windows PC machine.

Let’s get started, after the jump!

Get the tools

First and foremost make sure your iPhone is updated to the 3.0 firmware. If you’re not yet running 3.0, update via iTunes.

All good? Okay, next make sure your iPhone is not connected to your PC. Next you will need to download the following files:

• redsn0w 0.7.2

• iPhone OS 3.0 for iPhone 3G (IPSW)

Jailbreak Process

Now double click on the redsn0w file you just download to open the redsn0w application. You will then be prompted to select the 3.0 IPSW file you downloaded. Do as instructed now. Once it is successfully identified press next to continue.

Now you will have to select whether you'd like Cydia, Icy, or both installed on your phone. You must install at least one of them. Make sure your choices are checked and press next.

Next you will be connecting your iPhone 3G to your PC. Once your device is connected, hold the power button until the "Slide to Power Off" appears - then slide to power it off. Press next.

Redsn0w will not put your iPhone 3G into DFU mode. Be sure to follow the onscreen instructions exactly. Start by holding down the power button for 3 seconds.

Hold down both both the power button as well as the home button for 10 seconds.

Finally release the power button while continuing to hold the home button down until redsn0w detects your iPhone 3G.

The device will now reboot once it is detected by redsn0w.

Redsn0w will now begin the process of uploading the new ramdisk. Once this is complete you will be notified that the jailbreak process is complete. Click the Finish button.

Even though redsn0w completed it's process your iPhone will still be finishing up. This can take up to 5 minutes. Be patient, when it's done you will have a jailbroken iPhone 3G with Cydia/Icy on the SpringBoard.

Unlocking Process

Now if you are looking to unlock your iPhone follow these steps below.

• If you are unlocking for T-Mobile USA be sure to disable 3G.

• Run Cydia or Icy

• Add the repo repo666.ultrasn0w.com to Cydia or Icy. That last “o” is actually the number zero “0”.

• Search for ‘ultrasn0w’ in cydia or icy and install ultrasn0w.

• Reboot your iPhone 3G.

Enjoy your freshly unlocked iPhone 3G running the 3.0 software!

We're not sure how many pure Windows users are running MobileMe. For those who run Mac OS X, especially multiple Mac OS X machines, the computer sync, Back to my Mac, and other functions make it a far, far better value for the money than a strict Windows environment. However, if you run both platforms, or even if you just love your MobileMe on Windows, Apple has given you a little bit of love today as well. The MobileMe News blog says:

We've recently released MobileMe Control Panel for Windows version 1.4. It is recommended for those who use MobileMe for syncing contacts or calendar on a Windows PC connected to a corporate network that uses proxy servers (some corporations use proxy servers to access the Internet). Click here for information on the proxy servers it supports. If you already have the MobileMe Control Panel installed, you can automatically upgrade to version 1.4 by downloading and installing iTunes 8.2. If you don't already have the MobileMe Control Panel on your PC, see these instructions for installing and setting it up.

With all of this Jailbreak talk going on lately, what better time to let all of you wanna-be Jailbreakers know that all of our how to guides are completely up to date for firmware 2.2.1. For some people, getting into the world of Jailbreaking can be confusing and that is completely understandable. TiPb wants to make it as cut and dry as humanly possible for you. So here we go.

So you have a iPhone 3G that you will want to unlock? Ok, in order for that to happen you must use our preserving baseband guide which can be found here. Currently only Mac users can use this method, sorry Windows faithful. It is also important to note that you must be on anything but the 2.2.1 firmware (2.2 or earlier) in order to be able to unlock your iPhone 3G with the Dev Teams Yellowsn0w.

Ok, here is another one for all of the Mac users out there. You have a first generation iPhone or an iPhone 3G and all you care about is simply Jailbreaking. Well then you would use the Mac QuickPWN method. It is important to remember, use this method only if you are not interested in unlocking your iPhone.

No, we have not forgotten about Windows how to guides. You say you have a first generation iPhone that you want Jailbroken and unlocked? This is the guide you would use to get that taken care of right here.

iPhone 3G owners who want to Jailbreak, it is pretty simply - check out this guide and you are good to go.

So there you have it, all of TiPb how to guides updated for 2.2.1.

Citrix has been warning... er... teasing Windows for the iPhone for a while now, but their blog (via Gizmodo) was recently updated to reflect some updates:

As we have announced here on the Citrix Blog ( still no Press Release though ... ) we are actively developing a Citrix Receiver for the iPhone that will bring the world of millions of Windows apps and developers to the iPhone. As part of our testing and demonstrations we are looking for examples of compelling applications that will not run natively on the iPhone, however if the app was hosted on XenApp and delivered to the iPhone it would provide a great visual example of the power of Citrix and the iPhone.

They cite examples including IE-only apps (ActiveX?), Flash apps, medical apps, and cut and paste (?!)

While other remote desktop and VNC clients exist for the iPhone, Citrix comes from a background deep inside the Windows kernel and are thus unique situated to develop a killer solution.

So, anybody really want remote access to Windows on their iPhone, and if so, what do you want most from it?

Lately the forums have picked up quite a bit of traffic so we have been getting more and more good conversations. Today on the forums is no exception.

First up we have forum regular cjvitek. More than likely if you are reading this you have your own iPhone, well what is your choice of computer? Mac? Windows? Chime in and vote in the poll!

This next thread is something right out of the National Enquirer, It involves a man, woman, and their marriage. Some people are really not the sharpest tools in the shed. Check it out, Man Cheating Via iPhone Gets Caught... yes you heard me correctly...

Next up is thread started by iPhone Nanite, lasvegasoutlaw, and he seems to be having Yahoo "Push" issues on his iPhone. Honestly, it has had issues since day one but how is Yahoo holding up for you? Let the "outlaw" know how your luck has been in the following thread - What is up with Yahoo Push?

Be sure to join our community to be able to post in theforums! It's free and will only take a minute!

See you on the forums!

Disclaimer - Neither TiPb nor I take any responsibility for any problems/issues/bricking/etc. that may occur while using this software to modify your iPhone. Please be aware of what you are doing.

It was not long ago that we filled you in on the steps to take in order to jailbreak your iPhone 3G on Mac OS X as well as a Windows PC. Well today TiPb is proud to present a step by step guide to not only jailbreak your first generation iPhone 2G but to unlock it while jailbreaking. This is for Windows PC's only.

So if you are against AT&T in the US, or simply need to run your original iPhone on an international carrier like Rogers in Canada or any GSM/EDGE network around the world, then please read on after the jump!

This guide will show you how to jailbreak/unlock the original iPhone 2G only, not the iPhone 3G. Some important notes before we begin: You must have iTunes 8 installed and you must be on firmware 2.2.1, if you are not, be sure to update via iTunes. Also make sure to go into the task manager and disable ANYTHING Apple or iTunes related.

1. Get the tools.

Once you are positive you are running the 2.2.1 on your iPhone and have iTunes 8 installed it’s time to get the tools you will need. Create a folder on your desktop named “Pwnage”, then download the following files into that folder:

• Windows QuickPwn 2.2.5
• iPhone 2.2.1 ISPW
• 3.9 Bootloader
• 4.6 Bootloader

Unzip the QuickPwn.zip file inside the Pwnage folder.

2. Launch QuickPwn

Simply click on the pineapple from the Pwnage folder you created on your desktop.

3. Connect your iPhone

Connect your iPhone via USB to your computer and click the blue arrow to continue.

4. Locate Firmware

Now we have to click the browse button to locate your iPhone firmware.

5. Selecting the 2.2.1 firmware IPSW

Select the 2.1 firmware IPSW file from the Pwnage folder you created on your desktop then select the IPSW file and click the open button.

6. Firmware Verification

QuickPwn will now verify you have selected the correct firmware. After it is verified click the blue arrow to continue.

7. Customize your firmware

This step allows you select what you’d like installed on your iPhone. You have the ability to select Cydia, Installer, replace boot logos, and unlock your device. Once you have made your selections click the blue arrow to continue on. If you want a full jailbreaking experience, installing Cydia and Installer is highly recommended.

8. Bootloader Files

You will now be prompted to select your bootloader files that I instructed you to download a few minutes ago. Click on the Browse button and select the 3.9 bootloader from the Pwnage folder you created on your desktop. Repeat this for the 4.6 bootloader file. Then click the blue arrow button to proceed.

9. Verify Connection

QuickPwn will noW verify that your iPhone is still connected to your PC. Again click the blue arrow to carry on forward.

10. Potential Tricky Part - Pay Attention

Ok, this part seems to give some people issues, but I assure you it does work. QuickPwn will now put your iPhone into recovery mode. When its in recovery mode you will be given directions to: Hold the Home button for 5 seconds, Hold the Home and Power buttons for 10 seconds, then release the Power button and continuing holding the Home button until your iPhone is in DFU mode.

11. Let the jailingbreaking begin - no going back now!

QuickPwn will detect your phone is in DFU mode and proceed with the jailbreaking process.

12. You are officially jailbroken - Congrats! Now Time to Unlock - Be Patient

Once jailbreaking is complete, QuickPwn will then reboot it and run BootNeuter. Let BootNeuter take over, do not interupt it. This process will take about 5 minutes. Your iPhone will reboot when it has completed and you will have a fully unlocked iPhone!

13. Setting up data connection - T-Mobile ONLY

Go into Settings, General, then Network and enter the following information.

APN: wap.voicestream.com

Username: (leave empty)

Password: (leave empty)

For other Mobile Carriers data settings check out this link.

Well that’s it folks, it’s time to start exploring this whole new world you have just opened. For answers to more of the questions you may have regarding jailbreaking please head on into our forums. There are always members of our community willing to help you out!

Disclaimer - Neither TiPb nor I take any responsibility for any problems/issues/bricking/etc. that may occur while using this software to modify your iPhone. Please be aware of what you are doing.

A few days back we brought you a simple guide to jailbreak your iPhone with firmware 2.2.1 on your Mac. Well today we are showing some love for our Windows faithful.

This guide will show you how to jailbreak the iPhone 3g only, not the first generation iPhone. Some important notes before we begin: You must have iTunes 8 installed and you must be on firmware 2.2.1, if you are not, be sure to update via iTunes. Also make sure to go into the task manager and disable ANYTHING Apple or iTunes related.

Let's get started, after the jump!

1. Get the tools.

Once you are positive you are running the 2.2.1 on your iPhone 3G and have iTunes 8 installed it's time to get the tools you will need. Create a folder on your desktop named "Pwnage", then download the following files into that folder.

• Windows QuickPwn
• iPhone 3g 2.2.1 IPSW firmware

Once you have downloaded the above files you should unzip the QuickPwn zip file inside the Pwnage folder you just created.

2. Launch QuickPwn

This should be simple enough no? Launch QuickPwn from the folder you extracted it to on your desktop.

3. Connect your iPhone 3G

Connect your iPhone 3G via USB to your computer and click the blue arrow to continue.

4. Locate Firmware

Now we have to click the browse button to locate your iPhone 3G firmware.

5. Selecting the 2.2.1 firmware IPSW

Select the 2.2.1 firmware IPSW file from the Pwnage folder you created on your desktop then select the IPSW file and click the open button.

6. Firmware Verification

QuickPwn will now verify you have selected the correct firmware. After it is verified click the blue arrow to continue.

7. Customize your firmware

This step allows you select what you'd like installed on your iPhone. You have the ability to select Cydia, Installer, and replace boot logos. Once you have made your selections click the blue arrow to continue on. If you want a full jailbreaking experience, installing Cydia and Installer is highly recommended.

8. Verify connection

QuickPwn will noW verify that your iPhone 3G is still connected to your PC. Again click the blue arrow to continue your journey...

9. Potential Tricky Part - Pay Attention

Ok, this part seems to give some people issues, but I assure you it does work. QuickPwn will now put your iPhone 3G into recovery mode. When its in recovery mode you will be given directions to: Hold the Home button for 5 seconds, Hold the Home and Power buttons for 10 seconds, then release the Power button and continuing holding the Home button until your iPhone is in DFU mode.

10. Let the jailbreaking begin - no going back now!

QuickPwn will detect your phone is in DFU mode and proceed with the jailbreaking process.

11. You are officially jailbroken - Congrats!

Well that's it folks, it's time to start exploring this whole new world you have just opened. For answers to more of the questions you may have regarding jailbreaking please head on into our forums. There are always members of our community willing to help you out!

A while back we mentioned how Apple's slipping in of the MobileMe Control Panel was earning the rightful ire of Windows users. Well, it seems Apple has gotten the message, and their news blog now reports:

If you already have the MobileMe Control Panel for Windows installed, upgrading to the latest version of iTunes (iTunes 8 was released on 9/9/08) will automatically update the control panel as well. But If the control panel is not already there, iTunes will not automatically install it. Also, the control panel will appear as an optional download whenever you run Apple Software Update on Windows.

Would that all supposedly bad guy monopolists Dr. Evil types responded to consumer push back so appropriately, eh Paul? Eh Dan? Eh Shill #3 making that post in the background for no reason?

Not evil twin to theiPhoneBlog.com Week in Review, not an invasion by Fake Steve, This Week in Smart Phone Schadenfreude brings you all the feel-better news you need about the smartphone world outside Apple’s current media dominator. (Who knew there was such a world? We were just as surprised! Inelegant, interface challenged, keyboardy, crashy, single-touchy place — best not to linger…). Join us as we mock review the big news from last week at our sister sites. Everybody loves sibling rivalry!

This week: Zilch again. Nadda. We're too busy getting ready to cover the no doubt universe denting news Apple will unleash at "Let's Rock" on Tuesday. And, frankly, so is the competition. Face it, they've been quiet as little blue-OLED mice lately.

Blackberryboss Lazeridis is all dressed up like Leo Laporte and is already lining up in San Francisco to find out what Apple's releasing this year... so he can release it next. Palm-Top Colligan's not releasing anything new until Nova ships sometime in 2012, and Larry and Sergey have shifted the focus off Android and onto their new Chrome browser, which we just know they've been running on gLinux in-house for years but is somehow only released (in what will not doubt be perpetual Beta) for Windows.

And speaking of Windows, Steve Ballmer's off preparing an extra-special CES-sized Monkey Boy dance (YouTube it) for his first adult Keynote since Bill Gates retired to make $10,000,000 mockumentaries with Jerry Seinfeld (Wikipedia him).

No doubt they'll return to their usually scheduled schedules next week, and so will we!

Not evil twin to theiPhoneBlog.com Week in Review, not an invasion by Fake Steve, This Week in Smart Phone Schadenfreude brings you all the feel-better news you need about the smartphone world outside Apple’s current media dominator. (Who knew there was such a world? We were just as surprised! Inelegant, interface challenged, keyboardy, crashy, single-touchy place — best not to linger…). Join us as we mock review the big news from last week at our sister sites. Everybody loves sibling rivalry!

This week: Boldly browsing (or not), AppClones, HTC's dreaming, and Treo requiem.

The Bold and the Buggered

We can't even make fun of this. Seriously. It harshens even our mellow. Crackberry Kevin spent days and days simply trying to get a freaking javascript enabled website to load up on his state-of-the-RIM Blackberry Bold, and basically every other Bold he could get his addicted fingers on, and word is he's still waiting for the progress bar to hit 2%.

Yeesh, who does RIM think it is, shipping a buggy, clearly pre-release firmware on one of the most hotly anticipated handsets of the year? Apple?

Official List of Blackberry OS 4.6 Features and Enhancements

First!

Okay. Fine. Crackberry.com deserves some bragging rights over predicting the new RIM iClone... er... Touchscreen Blackberry would be called both the Thunder and the Storm. However, as any long term reader of this column (hi mom!) knows, WE were the first ones to bust out ThunderStorm and it's inherent brando-confuso. NOT them. Us. So on behalf the the TWiSS nation:

Nailed it!

(And when Microsoft finally unveils WinVistaZuneMob for Windows Live! (Technology Preview), we'll be right back to claim credit for that to!)

That Ain't a Browser

While they may handle Javascript better than the Bold (and likely Flash better than the iPhone!), Crackberry claiming Nokia leads in "Mobile Bowsers" just because they've jammed a WAP rendering engine on 8 kazillion frighteningly insecure feature phones is like claiming Microsoft Paint is the premiere graphics package in the world just because it ships on every Windows PC since 3.1 (Take that, Photoshop!).

When it comes to the really realz browser champion of the world, if Crackberry even dreams of calling it any other way, they better wake up and apologize to the iPhone...

Putting the Carts Before the Stores

First came the iPhone, then came the iClones. Next came the App Store, so now we're getting the Aped Stores. Kinda. Google is doing one for Android called Market (because it's not a store, get it?), which has no production units yet, and it looks like Microsoft is doing one for Windows Mobile Se7en called SkyMarket, which has no modern SDK.

We suppose it stands to reason that, what with the App Store making developers money handset over fist, all the commodity OS makers would try to duplicate it. Would that they would spend half the time or effort, however, duplicating the innovative spirit and business prescience that drove App Store.

(And seriously, SkyMarket?! To fit in so perfectly with Xbox Marketplace and Zune Marketplace? What, we're supposed to believe Windows Mobile Marketplace was taken? Does it tie in to SkyDrive, and leverage Mesh? Could Microsoft's branding be anymore broken? We can't even make fun of it anymore, because every week they come out with something funnier than we ever could... yeesh!)

Does Android Dream of Engadget Peeps?

We've got to give full faith and credit to HTC, they actually made manifest a handset that so totally embodies the palette and yet completely misses the spirit of the Google home page. Bravo-oh.

Given the 87 fold out slider keyboards this gPhone sports, however, why couldn't they squeeze in a hardware button for "I'm feeling lucky"?

Xperia'ncing Delays

HTC must be super busy pumping out phones for Google, Palm, and... themselves, what with Sony being pushed back to 2009 (which can feel like decades in gadget time). We could joke that they're waiting on WinVistaMob for Windows Live! Se7en (Technology Preview) to hit, but that's more likely to be 2012 on the outside... What's especially confusion is that Dieter actually used the Xperia waaaaaaay back in April and it seemed to be working fine. His thoughts on the delay?

Good luck to ya, SE, given how long you've been working on this since we saw it, we suspect you're going to need it.

You Only Look Twice, Mr. Bohn

Speaking of Dieter, his mega-super-ultra-everything-plus-the-kitchen-sync-and-pipes Treo Pro review is now online, finishing the "beauty and beast" double feature that began with the 800w a month back. As we're unlikely to see any more Treo's out of Palm this year, and certainly nothing rocking NovaOS 2.0 (What comes after Garnet and Cobalt anyway... Kryptonite?) it's be best to savor these. The truly masochistic among us might even want to join Malatesta for second look...

Not evil twin to theiPhoneBlog.com Week in Review, not an invasion by Fake Steve, This Week in Smart Phone Schadenfreude brings you all the feel-better news you need about the smartphone world outside Apple’s current media dominator. (Who knew there was such a world? We were just as surprised! Inelegant, interface challenged, keyboardy, crashy, single-touchy place — best not to linger…). Join us as we mock review the big news from last week at our sister sites. Everybody loves sibling rivalry!

This week: A day late but sadly no jokes short, Boldly browsing, unboxings galore, big love from HTC, who does Rubenstein really work for, and ZOMG! a new Android beta!

b.engadget.com...

...the Blackberry specific, RIM-browser optimized version of one of the most popular tech blogs on the planet... doesn't exist. Neither does t.engadget.com for those of you who've actually figured out how to load a semi-functional browser on a Treo.

Nope. Turns out one of out-going Editor-in-Chief Ryan Block's final acts at Engadget was to set up the iPhone, and the iPhone alone, with the keys to its own special gate. We wonder why...

(Hint: Palm Treo 755p: 0.1% share. Blackberry Anything: didn't even make the list...)

And special well wishes to Mr. Block, with thanks for all the hard work he put in at Engadget, and best wishes for whatever he chooses next. Health, happiness, and much success!

Speaking of Blackberry Browsers

Lots of brouhaha this week over some dodgy iPhone vs. Blackberry Bold browser battles. Crackberrians cried foul, saying the Bold was hamstrung by a pre-release ROM and faulty WiFi connection. The initial test was against the original, iPhone 2G, however, and subsequent tests run on the iPhone 3G still smoked the poor little Bold. Admittedly, the Bold was again a pre-release ROM, however anyone who's ever used an iPhone 3G running 2.x knows that's pretty much a pre-release ROM as well, every bit as buggy. So until Crackberry.com runs some of their own tests, no doubt against a specially prepared iPhone, we're calling it fair fight, and iPhone by complete domination.

Attention Blackberry Developers

Remember RIM's answer to Apple's iFund? You know, the VC pool established to fund Google-class iPhone App development? Yeah, us neither. But Crackberry.com has confirmed what we'd already forgotten: Even though "Blackberry" is in the name, RIM has nothing to do with it (just like Apple really has nothing to do with the iFund, we swear), and -- get this -- neither does the Blackberry.

Just tell the money-bin that one day you might possibly (wink) consider thinking about maybe porting (wink wink) a future beta of your hawt new iPhone App to the Blackberry, and you're golden. Literally.

The Hunt for Bold All Over

Congrats to Crackberry Kevin on actually finding a Blackberry Bold in stock somewhere in the harshest hinterlands of Canada. With RIM reportedly only shipping 1 or 2 units per metric googlometer, his threats of SMASH no doubt precipitated Lazaridis to pull up in front of Crackberry HQ, fresh new Bold offered atop a red velvet cushion.

Palm-Treo Games

Likewise, congrats to Dieter on getting his already over-phone'd hands on a Treo Pro. Though his story wasn't as blog'd out as Kevin's, it was probably every bit as Tom Clancy-worthy in its own right. And if you're into fringe smartphone Pr0n, check out WMExperts Treo Pro vs. Everything video. They even sacrifice it to an iPhone 3G, poor little [redacted].

Speaking of [Redacteds]

Last time we asked why the Treo Pro bore little-to-no resemblance to it's 700 series forefathers. Turns out the 700 series might not have been any of its fathers. Mamma Palm, it seems, went and dallied with HTC. Given how the 800w turned out, however, can you really blame the old girl?

The HTC Xperia'nce

Sparing us all some overly obscure Foxworthy-esque joke about the HTC Palm Treo Pro and HTC Sony Xperia getting divorced but remaining cousins (whoops, so much for sparing), we'll just point out that the next in a long line of nouveau-chic Windows Mobile handsets that were announced ages ago but have yet to actually ship, has now been announced to still eventually actually ship. One day. In Europe.

For those who don't remember that far back -- and who can honestly blame you? -- yes, this was the banana slider Sony abandoned Sybian and cozied up to Microsoft for.

What's the UI Equivalent of a Paper Bag Over the Face?

Seems to be a third party shell or launcher. And if you've been afraid to take your Windows Mobile out in public looking like its been beaten with the Redmond stick, Brian heartily recommends this... er.. iPhone "inspired" full facial replacement.

Looks good to us. Now how do you fix the OS?

All Rubinstein, All the Time

Rubinstein helped Steve Jobs and Apple launch the iPod to the stratosphere, and while Jobs' second mobile act, the iPhone, has pretty much revolutionized the industry, Rubenstein's has... er... had somewhat less of an impact.

The man who left Apple when he wasn't allowed to jam a tic-tactile keyboard on the elegant, full screen iPhone, is now overrunning Palm (or, at least, serving as plenipotentiary most excellent to Lord Bono), canceling "several" Treo's, and tweaking many others (though sadly not the cosmetics on the 800w...).

Why? Not to make an iPhone killah. Oh, no. That might harshen Poppa Jobs' mellow and lead to the resurgence of Palm. No, Rubinstein simply wants to kill Treo make a killer Treo. Even if that honor currently belongs to HTC...

(Anyone bother to check and see if Rubinstein is really off Apple's payroll?)

Another Beta

No, not the 4th release of Apple's iPhone 2.1 Beta in almost as many weeks, but the first new beta build of the Android "platform" in Google knows how long. (And no, we're not counting those secret builds given to select privileged elite developers while the common mundanes were left to wonder what "open as in beer" really meant to the folks in Mountain View).

Dubbed 0.9, this new beta, which seems prepped to give Gmail's beta period a run for its money, may eventually set the possible stage for the OS that finally ships one day with HTC's Dream handset (2nd cousin once removed to both the Treo Pro and Xperia for those charting smartphone genealogies at home).

And no, we're not poking a little fun at Andorid here. Android is poking a lot of fun at all the developers and users who really, truly want something to keep Apple competitive. Let's hope they get serious sometime that is soonish.

Not evil twin to theiPhoneBlog.com Week in Review, not an invasion by Fake Steve, This Week in Smart Phone Schadenfreude brings you all the feel-better news you need about the smartphone world outside Apple’s current media dominator. (Who knew there was such a world? We were just as surprised! Inelegant, interface challenged, keyboardy, crashy, single-touchy place — best not to linger…). Join us as we mock review the big news from last week at our sister sites. Everybody loves sibling rivalry!

This week: All Bold all the time, spy pics, HTC gets red, and happy five-oh!

Rogers Hoses Hopeful Bold Hosers

When notoriously gouging Rogers Mobility in Canada gave its 11th hour reprieve on data rates to save its July 11th iPhone 3G investment, we all kind sorta knew it would someday, somehow, come back and bite us in our wallets. Well, it didn't. It bit Crackberry Kevin in his instead. Rogers official price for an iPhone 3G 16GB on 3(!) year contract? $299. Rogers semi-official price for a Blackberry Bold 0GB on a 3(!) year contract? Priceless. Or dang near. $399.

No doubt news reports of a giant green Crackberry yelling "Kevin Smash!" and laying waste to Rogers HQ will follow shortly.

And good on that.

All Bold All The Time

Or at least it seems that way. Canadian pricing fiasco aside, the Bold little buggers are really taking the cake these days. Popping up everywhere. Maybe Crackberry's right? They're going to be huge.

Just not at HSBC...

Kickstarting the Pearl

Of course, the iPhone 3G isn't the only handset Rogers is likely subsidizing out their vice-clenched assets. The new Pearl flipberry (nee KickStart) is going for a relatively tiny $49. They're likely targeting the same new users that the Palm Centro has been so successful at attracting lately.

Given RIM's brand power and compelling messaging on... er... messaging, seems like a can't miss, doesn't it? Especially with the ever increasing femal demo. Extraspecially if Virgin Canada keeps helping out...

Uber-Hawt New Spy Pics Leaked!

The intertubes FTW! Fresh new spy pics of still undisclosed, unreleased, unauthorized smartphone hawtness. And what do we get? Sleek, elegantly curved black form-factor, flush screen(!), brand-defining centralized button navigator with oh-so-easy to hit task buttons radiating outwards, above a killer tic-tactile keyboard combined with enterprise-class "push" technology!

Luddites to Gentoo-men, we present the:

Treo Pro! er... Blackberry Javelin... er... Treoberry Javepro???!!!

Seriously, this is a "bold" new step for Palm away from the locked-to-Treo-600 design-dearth of yore. Given Rubenstein and all the other Apple droppings they've picked up lately, it makes perfect sense the Pro should resemble a... Blackberry. We mean, hey, while everyone else and their OEM is lately -- and lamentably -- iCloning themselves to innovation-less stupors, here comes Palm stepping up the WinMob side of their Harvey Dent-esque product strategy with something at least on par with the latest/greatest from sales leader RIM.

It's about time.

HTC Dazed and Con-Fuze'd?

Seems like AT&T might be all set to launch the artist formerly known at the HTC Touch Pro, now re-dubbed the HTC Fuze. Yeah, we had to look it up too. Turns out it's an iClone slider...

Word to HTC marketing: While you may have had Fusion on the brain (something Palm nailed years ago with the Treo brand, and again just recently with Centro), never leave ambiguity enough in your product name to conFuze perspective buyers or they'll just reFuze to take you seriously. No way to deFuze it now though. Thankfully, at least, Moto must have had FUZR pre-marked (or was that BeastWars?)

Diamond Already in the Red?

So WMExperts would have us believe. If he didn't have his wee mits all over the Treo Pro, we'd suspect Bono was [Product]-izing just in time for the holidays...

Still, red being the color of Blood, and this Touch being branded as the Diamond, perhaps another word needs be taken with the marketing geniuses over at HTC...

Blackjack II vs. Q9h

Is sort of like the battle for 53rd place in the Olympics, isn't it? At least "Atila" has a shot at making it a three-way race...

Palm Set to Unleash the Hounds

No, not of the long, long, did we say loooooong?, promised Palm OS 2.0 (?!) Nova-based handsets. Just tons of new WinMob devices. Yay?

When those of us who loved the Palm OS first saw Bill Gates hoist a 700w up on stage at CES, even with all the talk of more options and better business plays, should we have recognized it as Colligan really just opening the seventh seal of stop-gapocalyps?

Signs point to yes.

Happy Anniversary

The TreoCentral Treocast got all golden on us this week, celebrating its 50th episode. May the next 50 be just as grand, and we look forward to hearing you on episode 100...

...probably covering the possible impending future potential pre-launch of Nova (beta).

And to Mike and Dieter -- the premiere duo in smartphone coverage -- Congratulations mobile accomplishers!

Not evil twin to theiPhoneBlog.com Week in Review, not an invasion by Fake Steve, This Week in Smart Phone Schadenfreude brings you all the feel-better news you need about the smartphone world outside Apple’s current media dominator. (Who knew there was such a world? We were just as surprised! Inelegant, interface challenged, keyboardy, crashy, single-touchy place — best not to linger…). Join us as we mock review the big news from last week at our sister sites. Everybody loves sibling rivalry!

This week: Pearl gets kicked, ZuneNokia cometh, Android isn't late (again!) and... a Centro clone?!

Blackberry Developers Conference...

...Now taking registration. For anyone who still wants to code for Java Micro Edition. Seriously. All 2 of you.

And for the record, no, this isn't a panicked attempt to re-court developers who may be considering jumping ship to the modern, Objective C, desktop class iPhone SDK, what with all the money to be made there (and the FreeRiders still waiting -- and waiting -- on the various LinMo initiatives).

Of course, serious Blackberry developers (aka the ones who work for RIM and thus have access to the actual APIs) are waiting on the next gen OS anyway, currently scheduled for some time after the square of the date Palm's Nova hits divided by the root of the tangent of Android's first handset's delivery...

KickStarting the Pearl

When we joked that Blackberry had more code names for their KickSeaStart-tacWolfRAZR flip phone than Microsoft had Vista SKU's, little did we know yet another -- and at the same time much, much older -- was about to be grafted on for release.

Yup, say hello to the... Pearl.

WTF is right. With the flip putting the actual pearl on the inside, shouldn't this be more properly branded the "oyster shell" ?

Blackberry Curve Price Cut

Just in time for consumers to cut it from their shopping list.

Reason? Not iClony enough, what with the ThunderStorm now firmly on the horizon... er... Verizon.

Still, given that Amazon was paying people to take Blackberry's off their hands just a short time ago, isn't this still $199 to much?

Crackberry.com Says Show Your Blackberry How Much You Loves It

By yanking out the battery. We concur.

Crazily enough, however, they actually suggest you put it back in right quick thereafter...

It's Not the First Sip That's Going to Kill You...

Delicious Monster's Wil Shipley takes on what he considers to be the poor science and worse concept behind Microsoft's "Mojave Experiment".

The bottom line? Try a little sip, then go watch Super Size Me.

What does this have to do with smartphones? See Diamond, HTC Touch...

ZunePhone's Coming, and... Nokia is Coming With It?!

Probably not so much, what with Nokia being all SymbiLinMo But then again, Nokia is ditching Blackberry for Exchange as part of the Grand Plan to actually get people off of one buggy, proprietary, outage prone service (no, not MobileMe... grumblegrumble...) and into another even buggier, proprietary, distributed outage prone service. But why do all the hard core punditry ourselves when, in grand bloggy tradition, we can just quote/link to it!

Nokia is already trying to establish its own Ovi portal as a mobile music store. It needs Microsoft’s Zune Marketplace as much as it needs another Symbian virus. Not only is the Zune Marketplace a sleepy, deserted mall with no customers and scant merchandise, but it has absolutely zero traction (or attraction) in Europe or other markets where Nokia sells its phones. The Zune is only sold in the US, where Nokia has minimal uptake. Adding the Zune Marketplace to its phones would do nothing for Nokia apart from making its own store look sidelined and associating the company with another megafailure brand. Nokia already has NGage for that.

Android Isn't Late!...

...At least when it's compared to WinVistaMob Se7en.

Okay, so the spin is Android is still on schedule but as anyone who's ever tried to run a simple school function by committee knows you can't settle on themes and decorations, much less deploy a brand new OS across multiple OEMs using different form factors and semi-secret SDK revisions on the backs of already beleaguered developers without a schedule more flexible than the whichever girl wins a heap of gymnastic medals this week. It's simple chaos theory.

And, sure, WinVistaMob Se7en isn't technically behind schedule either, unless you consider releasing an OS in 2009(ish) that's meant to be almost (squint and tilt head) competitive with what Apple released out-of-the-gate in 2007, as not being behind something...

Alert Custer

Motorola has just totally ripped off his strategy.

From the once mighty empire that ruled the world with the first RAZR, comes pinning their final, futile hopes on WinMob 6.6.6. And to think, Moto, people have accused you of running the company into the ground...

How To: 2 Tips to Make Windows Media Player on WM Suck Slightly Less

Yank out the battery. Oh, sorry, we covered that already under Crackberry... wait... here it is... Dieter claims there might just be a way.

Attack of the CentroClones... Er... CloneTros... Er... ?

No, we don't mean the Blackberry Javalin (that's more a Treo 680 clone, n'est ce pas?), we mean this poor confused little OQO G900.

Hey, we appreciate them giving the iPhone iCloning a rest, don't get us wrong, and when Palm sold 2 million of these lowest-end smartphones, it pretty much guaranteed some uber-cheaper knock off would be spun up. But, irony of ironies... what if it's actually more profitable than the real thing?

Not evil twin to theiPhoneBlog.com Week in Review, not an invasion by Fake Steve, This Week in Smart Phone Schadenfreude brings you all the feel-better news you need about the smartphone world outside Apple’s current media dominator. (Who knew there was such a world? We were just as surprised! Inelegant, interface challenged, keyboardy, crashy, single-touchy place — best not to linger…). Join us as we mock review the big news from last week at our sister sites. Everybody loves sibling rivalry!

This week: Bold, Bull. Bull, Bold. WinMob Can't Count to 20, and Colligan Loves the iPhone

It's Cosmo Cramer, Cracky!

We had to suffer Krakow's silly iPhone spewings, so it's only fair our sister site, Crackberry.com gets the the man who pushes market o-spin-ion almost as well as RIM does email.

So, yeah, bullish on Bold. Just sell before he does.

We Who Are About to Dial Salute You!

It is BlackBerrious TicTactilous Maximus, Leader in smartphone sales, email pusher extraordinaire, loyal enabler of the one true unpaid overtime, mate to workaholic partners, child to absentee parents, and in this generation or the next it will totally pwn you.

Fair enough, then, that Crackberry.com tortured the tyrannical little handset to death in retaliation.

Well done.

Flipping the Berry, Part Deux

KickSeaStart-tacWolfRAZR exclusive video reviews continue. Watch them fast before RIM NOC's them off!

WinMob to Sell 20M Licenses... Eventually

Sorry... we're... reporting... near... Redmond... and... have... to... keep... ducking... to... avoid... flying... furniture...

Whew! Ballmer finally blue-screened. Anyway, seems when Microsoft said they'd infect 20M units this year, seems what they really meant was that they wouldn't infect 20M units this year, because, well, they didn't. Still, 20M is a HUGE number. 20x what the iPhone sold in one weekend. Though the iPhone only has one model still on the market, by one manufacturer, running on one technology (GSM), in 22 countries, mostly on exclusive carriers. And, well, while we're admittedly mathlexic, we seem to remember there are more than 20 weekends in a year?

Maybe that's why:

iClones Becoming iCliches

Stop it. We mean it. The first dozen or so iPhone wannabes were at least mockable. Now they're just a mockery. We'd tell you to fire your industrial designers -- if we thought for even a moment you actually employed any. Bad enough Palm's been rereleasing the Treo 600 for what seems like 10 years now. How long do we have to put up with the iClones? Lazaridis? Colligan? Ballmer? Little help?

Bad Branding: Microsoft Advanced Studies Program

Does the tech industry have their own special version of the Razzies? They must, given how badly Microsoft keeps gunning for one. Last week we jokingly suggested Redmond would rebrand their struggling handset business as WinVistaXZuneMob Se7en Cairo Edition Phones for Windows -- LIVE! And little did we know that was actually BETTER than the stuff Microsoft could spittle out on their own, at least if the new names WMExperts.com says they're kicking around (quite literally) for Live Search!

Look upon their words ye mighty and despise:

• Bing
• Hook
• Kumo

Too. Many. Jokes. Crashing. Server.

Statler & Waldorf Dept.

Fear not, dear listeners of our sister podcast, WMExperts has not been secretly taken over by pod-people far more concerned with film, books, weather, shower habits, or basically anything even remotely NOT having to do with Windows Mobile, it's still firmly in control of Dieter and Malatesta -- who just happen to be far more concerned with film, books, weather, shower habits, or basically anything even remotely NOT having to do with Windows Mobile.

But seriously, given the previous news items, can you blame them? We can't.

Colligan Gets His Tech Checked!

TreoCentral.com informs us that Palm CEO Ed Colligan sat down for chat, and sure, typically we'd tear apart whatever non-sensical, factually challenged, anti-iPhone rhetoric bullet points he was fed by Ruby, Bono, et al. but turns out that -- wait for it -- he likes it! Okay, so he can't figure out how to email with it (hint: try the envelope icon), but overall he has some love for the design and innovation.

Unfortunately for Palm, the market pretty much agrees with him.

Could Palm Have an Earnings Surprise in FY Q1?

No.

Treo 800w: Selling a lot or Not enough to sell?

That's why.

Maybe they should drop the price below cost? It's working for the Centro...

Not evil twin to theiPhoneBlog.com Week in Review, not an invasion by Fake Steve, This Week in Smart Phone Schadenfreude brings you all the feel-better news you need about the smartphone world outside Apple’s current media dominator. (Who knew there was such a world? We were just as surprised! Inelegant, interface challenged, keyboardy, crashy, single-touchy place — best not to linger…). Join us as we mock review the big news from last week at our sister sites. Everybody loves sibling rivalry!

This week: ThuderStorms, iClone Double Feature, Dead Treo's, and Open Marriages!

Crackberry Dubs the New Blackberry: ThunderStorm...

...Only 3 days after we did. Congrats, sister siters. This week we're all about the KickSeaStart-tacWolfRAZR. We look forward to seeing it Monday!

(WinVistaXZuneMob Se7en Cairo Edition Phones for Windows -- LIVE! is already dibbed by WMExperts. Sorry.)

Introducing the iClone Nano!

Dear reader Kevin sends in these spy shots from "the wilds". Is it the long-rumored iPhone Nano? Nope, just an iClone Nano, courtesy of the usual suspects at Research in Motion. Seems like gloss black and silver trim is this years gloss black and silver trim...

If only Waterloo could iClone the interface and iTunes experience, eh?

Introducing BlackBerry Media Sync

D'oh! Well, we guess it's technically not iClone iTunes if RIM just stoleded it outright, right?

Your Music on Your BlackBerry Smartphone. It's That Simple. Easy to Update

Because it's connecting to iTunes, of course. Imagine if Apple hadn't tried to roll their own MobileMe service and just hacked their way into RIM's NOC (Network Operations Center). Who'd have functional push then, huh? Who?

(Sorry, not having had email for two weeks makes us a little prickly...)

Speaking of Little Prickles...

Yes, we do listen. We appreciate the feedback. And we'll redouble our efforts. Much love.

Attack of the iClones: WinMob Supplement

WMExperts is masochistic kind enough to show us a real life, side-by-side comparison between the iPhone 3G and the iClonic Samsung Omnia and HTC Touch Diamond, and what can we say? Good job with the screen quality there. 1 degree viewing angle must be an industry record of some kind, right?

(Actual photo at top of post. Thanks for sparing us any photoshopping this week, OEMtards!)

Enter... the ZunePhone!

May want to hold on to them tats a smidge longer there, Zune-dude. WMExperts reports (and we spin) that Microsoft is all shook up, and along with throwing chairs, Ballmer may just throw a ZunePhone our way as well...

Good luck with that. We hope it's like totally as successful as the Zune proper. Sincerely.

TreoCentral Asks:

Will the BlackBerry KickStart be a Centro Killer?

Yes.

(Unless you hate flippies. Then no. But yes.)

The More Treo's Change

The Treo 755p is dead. Long live the... er... ah...

When's Nova exploding again?

And in No Other News

Analysts, which is increasingly another word for those who lost employment within an industry and now make even more money spouting even worse nonsense from without, are saying the troubled "Open" Source Android platform may be merging with the soon to be troubled "Open" Source Symbian platform.

And if you believe that, we've still got that second bridge left over from WWDC to sell you...

Tired of the three-percenter Mac population hogging all the iPhone Unlock/Jailbreak/Pwnage goodness for their eye-candied, single-button'ied selves? No longer!

The Windows version of the iphone-dev team's Pwnage tool, WinPwn, is now available:

Support for both 1.1.4 and 2.0, Custom Image Support, Custom Payload Support, 3g iPhone support

So, if you really want to Pwn your iPhone and haven't already hunted down that turtle-neck wearing snob at the sushi bar and commandeered the aluminum sliver that passes for his laptop, your Microsoft compatible version awaits...

Another day, another potential problem with MobileMe? Fair enough, some Windows users were made a little hyper-sensitive a while back when Apple included Safari as a pre-selected update alongside Windows iTunes 7.6. An uproar arose, and Apple responded by shifting Safari slightly downward and into its own section.

Now comes word that iTunes 7.7 installed a MobileMe section into Windows Control Panel (similar to the Quicktime section) -- whether you use MobileMe or not.

Sure, Apple is engaging Windows users like never before. Their largest iPod and iPhone installed base, Windows users have had Quicktime forever (Microsoft's own shenanigans in that arena aside), iTunes for a long time, Safari last year, and now MobileMe (kinda sorta, depending on whether or its or not at any given moment). Some, however, are taking issue with the methods of this engagement, and the "trojan horse" like way Apple is choosing to slip new initiatives in alongside established applications.

Are you a Windows user? What do you think? Are you happy Apple is providing features even if you don't currently use them, or would you prefer they wait until you ask them for those features before installing on your machine?

Read

Not evil twin to theiPhoneBlog.com Week in Review, not an invasion by Fake Steve, This Week in Smart Phone Schadenfreude brings you all the feel-better news you need about the smartphone world outside Apple’s current media dominator. (Who knew there was such a world? We were just as surprised! Inelegant, interface challenged, keyboardy, crashy, single-touchy place — best not to linger…). Join us as we mock review the big news from last week at our sister sites. Everybody loves sibling rivalry!

This week: Blackberry device outages, Android SDK, Palm launches Treo 700 v3

Bold Behind, ThunderStorm Downgraded

Congrats to sister-site Crackberry.com for breaking the first images of the Blackberry ThunderStorm's soft, virtual keyboard (you know, the one RIM's CEO can't use and would never make). Might just be a sticker, though, as NERDFIGHT or no reports continue to say the latest iClone just don't work yet. (But dig the UI work! Jonathan Ive must be quaking in his elegant yet understated ash black #7 boots...)

No problem, right? Because the Bold is launching any day now? Er... no so much either... Looks like it doesn't work so well either yet. Radio code, they say. That or RIM's desperate scramble to try and launch their iClone double punch as fast -- and loose it seems -- as possible.

Chill guys. Take your time. Get it right. And here's a thought -- why not innovate something of your own while you're at it?

Asked... And Answered!

Crackberry.com asks:

How come every new big BB app is running into such teething problems!?!

And Crackberry.com responds:

RIM just updated their site with BlackBerry JDE 4.5

Ahem.

When you have scads of devices scattered across multiple outdated OS versions all based on Java Micro Edition, you have a development nightmare that makes Windows Mobile look, well... not completely horrible by comparison.

Memo to Waterloo: In addition to innovative handsets, let's add a real OS to the list. You know, something that couldn't run a RAZR. We hear LinMo is the rage with all the cool kids these days...

Crackbettey Brings Less Hawtness to the Blog...

And dang right, ours is better than yours.

But we could teach you to use an iPhone, L-Loh, now that Fake Steve is no longer in charge...

AT&T Crackspiracy Redux

We covered this story early in the week (and of course Crackberry.com iCloned it with a rapidity that would make RIM proud).

Way to go, tic-tactile-tards. Next time just be honest. Tell them you ran out of iPhones and you'll order them some when Apple can find your out-of-nowhere parking-lot kiosk. Better to be embarrassed than humiliated.

Does Android Dream of Exclusive Sheep?

Huge surprise. Mega. Potential Android developers (yup, some people are still waiting for their iPhone App Store acceptance and have to keep busy somehow) are growing impatient with the lack of SDK updates coming out of Mountain View.

Only not so much. Turns out there hasn't been a lack of updates at all -- they've just been reserved for specialer, more privileged partners.

Non-disclosure agreements and selective access to development tools are hardly emblematic of an open ecosystem. Google has intentionally disadvantaged many developers and kept the broader Android community in the dark about the progress of the platform. Google's failure to fulfill its commitment to openness has eroded one of the principle differentiating factors that made Android a relevant alternative to Apple's iPhone operating system. If Google cannot change course, the lack of transparency in the development process will likely push disenfranchised developers towards other mobile platforms.

Way to embrace the spirit of "open" there, eh, Google? Not evil phase all past us now then?

Making an OS is hard, even when you have a CEO on the Apple board and the iPhone to use as a blueprint. Making an OS by committee is even harder. Making an OS by committee and expecting it to work on multiple, different handsets from OEM partners is something that probably still gives Bill Gates night sweats.

Hate to say we told you so... not.

Live Mess

At least we figure the "Mesh" thing must be a WMExperts typo, given the state-of-the-art-of-1990 GUI...

Opera... Oprah. Oprah... Opera

The browser you've all been waiting... and waiting... for to replace the massively outdated Pocket Internet Explitivor is finally here. If one of the many known issues isn't a deal breaker. And if it's available for your device. And if you don't mind resource hogs.

Maybe they should pull a Krakow and just license LinMo and WebKit?

Palm Releases a Treo!

Stop the presses... er... posters! Palm has released a new Treo! No, we're not joking, TreoCentral.com even has a review!

It's the 700w v3 800w, which sees the antenna become an intenna, and the Treo finally getting some WiFi. (Yeah, we fainted too). Screen's still recessed, form factor's still jurassic, the OS ain't Palm or Nova, but hey -- it's a NEW TREO!

And in No Other News

Pop quiz: You're Motorola and you've recently been all but Icah'ned apart. Through lack of vision and hubris-filled mismanagement, you've lost more ground than even the RAZR bump ever gave you, and now, facing the iPhone, what do you do? Beg back the designers and engineers that once made you great? Take a RSK on making something new and wonderful? Or just sue one of the poor souls who jumped ship before it broke itself open on the RKS?

The latter of course. You're Moto, right?

Not evil twin to theiPhoneBlog.com Week in Review, not an invasion by Fake Steve, This Week in Smart Phone Schadenfreude brings you all the feel-better news you need about the smartphone world outside Apple’s current media dominator. (Who knew there was such a world? We were just as surprised! Inelegant, interface challenged, keyboardy, crashy, single-touchy place — best not to linger…). Join us as we mock review the big news from last week at our sister sites. Everybody loves sibling rivalry!

In this week's edition: What? Surprised we're here? Thought we'd be taking this edition off so we could play Super Monkey Ball or Bomberman Touch, or otherwise just hide in our tasteful Cupertino estates drooling over our totally awesome new, glossy plastic backed iPhone 3Gs? We did that last time. We totally had the device before Mossberg and like 99% of the people at Apple. Totally.

We're having a bit of weekend, is all. Maybe you heard about it? MASSIVE failures. Epic. Keep reading on to find out why its all Microsoft and RIM's fault!

Thanks Bill! Now Who's Running the Asylum?

Confession: Apple had to use Windows on iPhone 3G launch day. Embarrassing, of course, but due to monopolistic abuses, Microsoft has just totally wormed their way into the carriers. Do you know how distressing it is to have UK Apple Stores running VMWare Fusion because O2 can't connect to anything but Internet Explorer? Putting ActiveSync on the iPhone is one thing -- Sun Tzu told El Jobso he'd have to make some deals with the devil if he wants to break into enterprise -- but IE on iMacs? It'll take weeks of iTunes meditative podcasts to restore their sense of wonder.

And hey, Rogers up in Canada, what's the sound of a million Canadian IE6 browsers cr@pping out? Sales Central Down?! What's running the back end, a 386 on Windows for Workgroups? How about next time we pay our ISP bill on time, b'okay?

Of course, iPhone firmware 2.0 dropped at the same time, and since like some huge percentage of iPhone users are Windows users, so all those quirky we-had-to-make-them PC iTunes fired up trying to grab it all at once... At Infinite Loop, the OS X Leopard Data Center -- which is shaped into a perfect Yin/Yang of mechanical alignment in matching aluminum and black glass trim -- running the iTunes authentications services was just totally flooded in raw Microsoftian harshness. Ever seen kernal panic? Imagine that gone nuclear. Total loss of mellow. Total. Apple IT will reportedly be in intensive yoga all week.

Funny how this all happened the minute Bill Gates left the building, though, isn't it? If he and Ballmer weren't waiting in line over night at the Apple Store in Seattle, it would be uber-suspicious. Sure, they could have used body doubles or something, but Ballmer completely lost it waiting for his shiny new iPhone 3G to get unbricked. Chairs and sweatstains flying like that are rather unmistakable...

RIM Stealing iPhone's Thunder?

Why not, they've stolen everything else, right? What better way for RIM to hypejack some press coverage on iPhone 3G launch day than to carefully plant the seeds of a NERD FIGHT! Tell Crackberry.com that the iClonic new touchscreen Blackberry Thunder may actually work, then tell the Boy Genius Report the much more believable story that the Thunder is totally hosed, step back, and laugh your apps off. After all, this is the company whose CEO just recently said touchscreens were unusable. Why not prove it with an unusable touchscreen device? Especially when Apple's new MobileMe service is bringing the heat!

(Though, in all fairness, Apple did start the latest round with some retaliation of their own, what with copying RIM's NOC failures, first with random .Mac outages, and then with the complete clusterfail of the MobileMe transition...)

Palm: We Want to Lose 30% More This Quarter!

After recent financial losses widely attributed to the spectacularly poor business strategy of selling the Centro entry-level, candy-bar cool smartphone for LESS than it costs Palm to make it, it seems the pressure of the iPhone 3G has sent Colligan and Co. even further over the edge. Witness TreoCentral announcing that as of now, you can get a green-keyed Centro for only $70.

Why not -$70. Pay people to take them, that's what Amazon did with Blackberry's after all. Should we expect this, what, next quarter at the latest?

And in No Other News

Unbelievable as it may sound, Nokia, Samsung, and Motorola, along with Google, announced the unprecedented--

Cannot connect to the iSatire Server. An known error has occured...

D'oh! Not again!

Not evil twin to theiPhoneBlog.com Week in Review, not an invasion by Fake Steve, This Week in Smart Phone Schadenfreude brings you all the feel-better news you need about the smartphone world outside Apple’s current media dominator. (Who knew there was such a world? We were just as surprised! Inelegant, interface challenged, keyboardy, crashy, single-touchy place — best not to linger…). Join us as we mock review the big news from last week at our sister sites. Everybody loves sibling rivalry!

In this week's edition: Nothing. Sorry. No time. We're already lining up for the iPhone 3G. Dieter got here early, but the rest of us are way back, forced to climb over ever-growing mounds of junked Crackberries and WinMobs and about a million Centros -- ouch! Heckuva tailgate going on, though. Ballmer keeps breaking out the Monkey Boy while Colligan and Lazaridis take turns timing their virtual keyboarding.

So yeah, sorry. Zip this week. Zilch. But it's totally not our fault. We don't even think the sister sites have been updated. (We'd ask Kevin and Jennifer but they're off playing hacky-sack with Sergey and Larry.)

UPDATED: Okay, fine. The Commenterati have spoken. We'll scour the interwebs. We'll find something. You'll get your fix. Anything to stop from harshening our pre-launch mellow!

Blackberry Kickstart Special TV Offer -- While Supplies Last!

Attention Crackberrians! You're not gonna pay $249 for the new RIM Kickstart Flipberry, are you? No! And you're not gonna pay $149 either, are you? Nope! You're not gonna pay $99 or $79 either. All you're gonna pay is one easy payment of $49! But wait, there's more! Act now and we'll throw in near-weekly service outages, and the classic StarTac form factor, for FREE! Tell them Crazy Mike sent you, and we'll even throw in a free Flowbee!

(Yeesh, when did entry level become throw away? We know Amazon was even paying people to take Blackberry's off their hands for a while, but crack open Palm's books sometime, Mr. Canadian CEO of the Year, and see what selling stuff for less than it costs to make it does for the old bottom line, b'okay?)

Blackberry Done Copying iPhone, Starts Copying Windows 95

Yeah, so the Thunder will still iClone the iPhone, at least as much as the old-but-not-Palm-old Java "OS" is capable of, but RIM isn't intent on just copying Apple, oh no. Their next target -- Windows 95! Seems just like good old Win95 (which knowing MS was probably release in 1997, right?), one day in the distant future a Blackberry OS may -- wait for it -- try to avoid "nuked" or "bricked" units by allowing users to -- wait for it again -- boot into safe mode!

(We need to pause here to explain to iPhone users that those poor unfortunates with "smartphones" rather than mobile computers don't have OS's for realzies like OS X, just weird little management systems that are far less stable and are just as likely to turn on as they are to spontaneously cease functioning. Think Xbox 360).

Rather than a function key, the tic-tactile escape key will do the trick. Press it and you're in safe mode. Kind of makes you wonder just how unsafe regular mode is if you have to escape it...?

In faker news, head BBOS developer Marty McFly tells us we can look back to a DOS-style CTRL-ALT-DELETE "feature" by 2020...

Windows Mobile Gets... Facebook!?

Confession: We're not sure what the story is here. Windows Mobile finally gets an application even the Palm Centro's already had? Or is it that Pocket IE is such a non-browser that WinMob requires an entire application (GUI created in MS Paint, really?) simply to load Facebook? Or is it that people with WinMob have just now discovered this neato new site called Facebook where -- just maybe! -- all the cool kids used to hang out?

Now it's WMExperts Giving With the Paper Cuts and Lemon Juice

Not enough that last week Crackberry.com made fun of the disgusting money grab that passes for Rogers' Canadian iPhone price plans, this week the diabolical editor of WMExperts just has to point out that the HTC Diamond Touch, is getting all-it-can-eat unlimited data from Bell for $30.

Well done, Rogers, you've succeeded where neither HTC nor Windows Mobile have before -- you've actually made people consider getting a Diamond Pro. Enjoy whatever layer of Hell greedy telco's get condemned to (we forget the exact number, same as the latest WinMob release number, right?)

Palm Hires Interface Designer!

How about that? We can't believe we typed it either, but this is big news from Treocentral. Huge. Palm actually hiring someone to consciously improve their user experience is like... hmm... if Windows Mobile actually hired someone to consciously improve their user experience (taking notes there, "J"?)

Turns out they got someone ultra-hip, ultra conceptual too. Same guy who did Helio, which according to Google Image Search has an interface consisting solely of a white flame brand over blue field. We're not kidding. That's all there seems to be. Makes the Google homepage looks busy. But who knows how the kids smartphone these days.

What'll he bring to Palm? Probably something just as innovative. We're guessing no screen at all. Joke all you want, but it would be light years ahead of Palm's vintage-yet-still-sadly-current anti-anti-aliased 8-bit circa 1990s groove.

And in No Other News

That's it. We have to go. The Motorola boys are playing the "iPhone 3G is the only reason we have left to live" card, trying to cry their way up in line. Brian and Casey aren't buying it, but Chad might let them in. Meanwhile, the Nokia and Samsung iClone teams have gotten bounced for trying to get early peaks inside. We feel for them, really. Rules are rules and all, but c'mon. If they don't find out what Apple is releasing this year, what'll they have to copy for next year?

Not evil twin to theiPhoneBlog.com Week in Review, not an invasion by Fake Steve, This Week in Smart Phone Schadenfreude brings you all the feel-better news you need about the smartphone world outside Apple’s current media dominator. (Who knew there was such a world? We were just as surprised! Inelegant, interface challenged, keyboardy, crashy, single-touchy place — best not to linger…). Join us as we mock review the big news from last week at our sister sites. Everybody loves sibling rivalry!

In this week's edition: Boldly late... and on strike, WinMob vs. Android, more Windows raves, and Real Ed vs. Fake Steve!

Blackberry Bold-ly Not Going Where the iPhone Will Have Already Gone Before

The 11th reason the Blackberry still doesn't compare to the iPhone 3G? The iPhone 3G will be out on time.

Unlike Apple, who typically doesn't pre-announce but sends CEO Steve "El" Jobso out on stage to BOOM! their tech when its good to pretty much G.O., in its panicked desperation to pip the iPhone 3G to the publicity post, RIM rushed to pre-announce their Bold before it was finished and, it seems, before they had a real idea of when it would be finished.

So, also unlike Apple's Jobs who gave us an emphatic July 11th to circle in red on our calendars (and bank accounts!), RIM's Lazaridis gave a nebulous date which, according to Crackberry.com, has just gotten "pushed" back:

August. Maybe 2008.

Rumor has it battery issues and overheating are to blame. Yikes. Either way, that's a full month after serious futurists have already gotten themselves an iPhone. I guess diehard Crackberrians should just expect it when they ship it.

Take Your Push and Shove It, We Ain't Emailing Here No More!

Yup, seems like members of the Writers Guild, among others, believe that both unfair and unequal treatment for their work on the internet and in DVD sales is matched only by having to use Blackberry's as reasons to go on strike.

Crackberry.com says ABC (the American one, not the Australian one, we're properly ethnocentric on this) backed down quickly in face of the Blackberry-out, and no scripts or fall season release schedules were harmed under the repetitive stress.

Crackberry Gives Papercut, Pours Lemon Juice On it

Yes. Thank you, Crackberry.com. Potential iPhone 3G customers in Canada are going to get Rogered by the local GSM monopoly -- almost as badly as the RIMtards. The difference? Whereas the Blackberry is pretty much a business appliance typically subsidized by companies, the iPhone is a mobile computer platform typically paid dearly for by consumers themselves.

Way to drag us down with you, hosers.

WinMob vs. Android: Complexity Showdown!

WMExperts gives us a peak beneath the Android Kimono, and what a peak it is! Seems Google's little mobile monster is poised to give Windows Mobile a run for its so-many-versions-developers-will-tear-their-neck-beards-out money. Way to go. May the least of the worst win the bottom of the most!

More Raves for Windows!

Typical Windows user feedback?

I am quite disappointed at how Windows Usability has been going backwards and the program management groups don't drive usability issues. [...] So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated. [...] Then it told me to reboot my machine. Why should I do that? I reboot every night — why should I reboot at that time? [...] Someone decided to trash the one part of Windows that was usable? The file system is no longer usable. The registry is not usable. This program listing was one sane place but now it is all crapped up. [...] What an absolute mess. [...] The lack of attention to usability represented by these experiences blows my mind.

Nope. THE Windows user feedback to rule them all, courtesy of Kaiser Bill Gates himself. Now, sure, this is technically about the desktop version of Windows 5.5 (aka XP), and not the similar-in-name-and-ill-conceived-GUI-only handset version, currently on 6.6.6 (or something), but the probative value far exceeds any potential prejudice (or the humor outweighs the difference, whatever).

Sadly, though much like typical user feedback, it had absolutely no effect on future development.

Keeping Palm Real Fake

Real Ed:

We are more confident than ever in our transformational effort. We've added extraordinary new talent, the Centro is a smash success, we have an incredibly competitive product pipeline, and are developing a world class software platform. I expect together, these efforts will deliver positive results in the coming years.

Fake Steve:

You turn your $500 Treo into a $100 Centro, sell each unit at a massive loss, and make it up on volume. How totally brilliant! Why didn't we think of that? I mean here at Apple we're still stuck in that old-economy mindset where you sell stuff for more than what it costs you to make it. Meanwhile Palm is getting inquiries from Chris Anderson of Wired who wants to do a big cover story on how "selling for less than cost" is the new future of business.

Real Ed:

I have never felt more enthusiastic about our product pipeline and our ability to get back on the right track.

Fake Steve:

If you really want to scare the crap out of yourselves, check out your company's official earnings statement and scroll down to the balance sheet. Little item called "Total stockholders' equity." Look at where it is today versus a year ago. Teeny tiny drop from $1 billion last year to $100 million now.

Real Ed:

We are extremely confident that the enhanced functionality of this new platform and its accessibility to the developer community, combined with the game changing hardware we have designed for it will usher in a new era for Palm. This platform development effort is proceeding very well and we look forward to bringing these products to market.

Fake Steve:

Well, nothing to worry about, I'm sure. Ahem. Anyway, much love to all of you. We miss you. Not really. And if you're thinking about maybe you'll crawl back here when Palm goes under, um, don't bother. Peace.

And in No Other News

Motorolo is pinning all their hopes for the future on the Alexander. That's not a joke. The sentence, I mean. Motorola definitely is.

Not evil twin to theiPhoneBlog.com Week in Review, not an invasion by Fake Steve, This Week in Smart Phone Schadenfreude brings you all the feel-better news you need about the smartphone world outside Apple’s current media dominator. (Who knew there was such a world? We were just as surprised! Inelegant, interface challenged, keyboardy, crashy, single-touchy place — best not to linger…). Join us as we mock review the big news from last week at our sister sites. Everybody loves sibling rivalry!

In this week's edition: Blackberry iClone's visual voice mail -- but don't make them angry! Windows Mobile 6.0 ready to crash already frozen Treo 800wx's, and can Centro has future?

Apple Reinvents the Phone. RIM Regurgitates the iPhone.

RIM loves them the iPhone. They love it's glossy black facade. They love its silvered bezel. They love its rounded rectangular slab-like form factor. They love its iTunes connectivity. And despite we-think-they-doth-protest-to-much comments to the contrary, boy do they love its touchscreen. They love it so much, they've done nothing but spend the last year iCloning it. They're latest, according to Crackberry.com?

Visual Voice Mail.

Yup.

Way to go, Lazaridis. A year and a half later, and you're finally copying something Steve Jobs showed off six months prior to the iPhone launch...

Good news for Crackberrians, though! At this rate, you'll get a MobileSafari class browser by 2011!

You Won't Like Crackberry Kevin When He's Angry!

Okay, we totally take back that last story. It wasn't us, and it certainly wasn't RIM. In fact, it was probably those troublemakers over at AndroidCentral saying the iPhone was copying the Bold again. Totally. Just don't get Crackberry Kevin angry. We don't like him when he's angry. We mean, did you see what he did to Rogers' data rates when he got angry? We don't have the healing factor to take that kind of pain!

We'll just stick to making fun of WindowsMobile for the rest of this edition, okay?

Please?

Obsolete Hardware, Meet Outdated OS!

Speaking of making fun of Windows Mobile, looks like the Treo 800wx will finally be getting an upgrade to version 6.0. No, that's not a typo. They're actually taking the oldest WinMob Treo (actually, the "fixed" rev of the oldest WinMob Treo, but why split petrified hairs?), and cramming the previous (not current) version of Windows Mobile on it.

And they're not even doing that yet, so some poor battered-consumer syndrome hax0rs have stepped in and actually made the monstrous little FrankenTreos themselves. Think getting XP up on your 486. Sorta.

WMExperts.com has the gory details. Or it could just be another spy shot of the 800w. Either way...

Centro: Can Has Future?

TreoCentral.com bravely asks: "Can Palm's Centro Still Roll With The Big Dogs at AT&T?"

In a sentence: About well as Motorola has post-RAZR.

In a word: No.

But if they play the chihuahua card low and long enough, they might sneak by until their next handset can go... er... Nova.

And in No Other News...

Samsung announced, and Sprint spat up $100,000,000 to advertise, the Instinct to compete with the old iPhone about 5 minutes before Steve Jobs announced the new iPhone 3G, officially making the Instinct a year too late and a (next) generation too short (not to mention quite a bit too expensive when faced with a $199 price tag for the Real Thing). So, the big bosses at Samsung and Sprint bit the bullet and dropped their prices... But not enough to impress Uncle Walt, much less our own big boss, who summed up the whole thing thusly:

Honestly - is anybody out there seriously considering an Instinct over an iPhone? We’ll grant that there are some people who prefer to pick their carrier first, phone second — but still, is it possible to even pick up the clean end of a piece of …Instinct?

Windows users love them their XP. No matter how prettier, more secure, and better architected -- though admittedly heavier -- Vista may be, the PR problems round Microsoft way have made it seem like every user is desperate to keep XP running on everything from their server farm to UMPC.

And now thanks to the folks at Citrix -- who rumor has it know Windows at the they-contributed-towards-the-kernel level -- could the iPhone be next?

Well, technically no. They're not really getting XP to run on Apple's handset, but they are enabling the same kind of remote wizardry they've been doing on the Windows side for years.

Using XenDesktop over WiFi, they accessed the aged OS via Citrix Server at the Application Delivery Conference in Melbourne as part of the Keynote.

Pundits and plain folk have been saying for a while now that the iPhone gives you a UNIX box in your pocket, and its nice to see some of that power being harnessed.

Could Go to Meeting be far behind?

Not evil twin to theiPhoneBlog.com Week in Review, not an invasion by Fake Steve, This Week in Smart Phone Schadenfreude brings you all the feel-better news you need about the smartphone world outside Apple’s current media dominator. (Who knew there was such a world? We were just as surprised! Inelegant, interface challenged, keyboardy, crashy, single-touchy place — best not to linger…). Join us as we mock review the big news from last week at our sister sites. Everybody loves sibling rivalry!

In this week's edition: RIM Flips, Windows Mobile is why Ballmer should quit, and Palm's Centro is a... hit?!

Kirk to Enterpise, the [Redacted] NOC is [Redacted] Down Again!

Crackberry.com continues their awesome trend of RIMsclusives, this week bringing us the pre-release (and bathroom-floor?) pics of the upcoming BlackBerry Flip... er... KickStart. Kudos to RIM marketing, the idea of kicking your new form factor to start it is both glee-worthy and certainly cathartic. The first live YouTubes of a boardroom full of business suits round-housing the flipugly little things through the plate glass and down to 100 story doom will earn our inaugural "favorite" badge.

RIM design should likewise be praised for boldly (oops, wrong model!) flippedly going where no one since 1960s sci-fi has gone before. Maybe the Aurora will sport it some phaser chic?

Blackberry Can Has Windows Live Candy?

Yes, that's apparently NOT a typo. This really does pass for screencandy on the Blackberry.

If an iPhone app ever came out looking that 2001, it would only be because Ashton Kutcher had developed it and was filming the reaction from backstage...

The OS Update Heard Around the World!

As we're all probably sick of hearing about now, a little OS update was announced this week. Flaunting a host of new features, the update will soon let everyone, everywhere, experience the next great revolution in smartphone... er... experience. Unfortunately, the announced OS update won't be released right away. Nope, we're all going to have to dig deep and wait just a little bit longer. But the relentless media coverage, the rumors, the anticipation, the fanboy frenzy... it will all be worth it soon.

Yup, in just a few short weeks, WMExperts.com says we'll be getting Windows 6.6.6 for the Moto Q9h! Booyah!

Windows Mobile -- Yup, THAT's a Firing!

Seems Jim Lynch over at ExtremeTech loves him some Windows Mobile almost as much as pundit Paul Thurrott. How much is that? Enough to make it his #4 reason Microsoft CEO Steve "Internet Monkey-Boy Dance Phenom" Ballmer should be fired:

Windows Mobile has been a dismal failure for Microsoft that has only become more apparent with the launch and success of the iPhone. Microsoft blew a lot of money and time with Windows Mobile and never managed to come up with a good mobile operating system. Apple, on the other hand, managed to hit a home run the first time out by using Mac OS X in the iPhone. I remember owning a Compaq iPaq years ago and, at first, I loved it. But as time went on I stopped using it and finally just got rid of it. Looking back at it now, from the perspective of an iPhone owner, I see that the iPaq was a good product but it suffered from a poorly thought out and awfully implemented operating system. Microsoft never got it right and still hasn't. As usual Microsoft is playing catch-up to Apple and we'll no doubt see Microsoft blatantly copying Apple's iPhone interface and features in a future release of Windows Mobile. For letting Windows Mobile continue to be a failed also-ran, Steve Ballmer should be fired.

No Dev in the Palm is Worth 2 Million Centros?

TreoCentral.com informs us that the "breakthrough hit" that is the Palm Centro is on track to sell 2 million units this year... of an OS Palm introduced only 6 years ago! And now they'll be selling on shiny happy Verizon as well! Everyone is thrilled. Seriously. Stock is up 9%. Colligan and Rubenstein are high-fiving in the halls.

Sure, instead of 2 million with a 6 year old OS, Apple sold 6 million with an OS introduced barely a year ago, but think about how much work that must of been, all that innovation and stuff. Why break a sweat when you get sit on your apps for 6 years and still bump the stock, right?

And since by the sounds of it, the next generation Nova OS will basically be a web browser, it looks like Palm has finally found it's winning strategy and is going for it! All engines in reverse, and straight ahead 'til yesterday!

And in No Other News...

Pop quiz, hotshot: You're a once relevant mobile phone manufacturer who once struck gold with the then-innovative RAZR and has since done everything corporately possible to never again recapture the lightning in that bottle. Your boogeyman of the last few years has just switched his attention to the MicroHoo! debacle, and Apple has shown you can still shake up the space with a breakthrough device fresh out the gate.

What do you do, hotshot? What do you do?

If you're Moto, you fire half your design team. That's what!

Not evil twin to theiPhoneBlog.com Week in Review, not an invasion by Fake Steve, This Week in Smart Phone Schadenfreude brings you all the feel-better news you need about the smartphone world outside Apple’s current media dominator. (Who knew there was such a world? We were just as surprised! Inelegant, interface challenged, keyboardy, crashy, single-touchy place — best not to linger…). Join us as we mock review the big news from last week at our sister sites. Everybody loves sibling rivalry!

In this week's edition: Nothing. Seriously. It's like there's some event on Monday that's blotted out the smartphone sun...

(Okay, fine, maybe there's some small something or other we can dig up. Hit the read link...)

Breaking: TiPb Welcomes Messrs. Lazaridis, Ballmer, and Colligan!

More fake breaking news, as we've received no tips reporting that the head honchos over at RIM, Microsoft, and what's left of Palm have done nothing all week but wire up fiber channels and practice hitting "refresh" in anticipation of our live meta blog coverage of the WWDC keynote on Monday.

When reached for non-comment, dead-pan funnyman Lazaridis said, "C'mon, I need to know what Apple's new phone looks like this year so I can figure out what RIM's will look like next year!"

Monkey-Boy dance phenom Ballmer didn't chime in with, "We'll be selling 3 friktillian smartphones with Windows Mobile Se7en on by 2012, and we're going to need to know what else to copy beside Multi-touch!"

Colligan, however, when awoken from his 5 year stasis, never remained cool, "We have no interest in duplicating the iPhone. We're about to release our 19th version of the Treo 600, and we've got 37 more where that came from!".

Alrighty then...

ATTN: Crackberry.com, RE: Coming Back Around...

Confession: We make a little fun of RIM's well-publicized and hugely embarrassing network outages (see, we did it again right there). But last week, when .Mac went down and we here at TiPb reported it pro-forma as the nothing little insignificant blip on an otherwise perfectly clear iPhone sky that it was, Crackberry.com wasted no time, and spared no level of glee, in NOC'ing it up, and twisting it into some big brouhaha.

Bulletin: A .Mac outage probably effects exactly 3 iPhone users. If that. We don't like to publicize it, but even Dear Leader doesn't really use the service (he's using the new one already, which is why they needed some massive super secret upgrade you may be hearing about at a little developers conference you may have hear about, b'okay?) Anyway, .Mac going out is like the 300th ranked ISP in Bavaria going out -- barely anyone noticed. They were all busy with setting up their new Exchange or MobileMe accounts for Monday.

Payback: However, you noticed, and we noticed you noticing, so we called up our "friends" in Waterloo and convinced the former Canadian Tire cashier whose hand's on the giant red NOC-off lever that, since everyone on the planet will pretty much be iPhone-only this weekend, it would be the perfect time for a "scheduled" outage. Poor kid. We're talking hook, line, and voice-cracking sinker...

We're not sure what Crackberry addicts pop when the push is down (our guess -- Solitaire on Win95), but enjoy the weekend!

Microsoft Out the Gates and High on Life

Or something! First up we have Microsoft (probably Ballmer), who according to WMExperts.com is sending letters (probably cut out of a soon-to-be-extinct magazine and stick-glued onto unsold Vista boxtops...) to their partners desperately reassuring them that Windows Mobile 6.6.6 (or 6.1, whatever the latest -- and by that we mean most currently behind schedule -- release is) will somehow still be relevant come Monday after El Jobso drops the iPhone 2.0 bomb.

Er... yeah... Not sure how to break this to you, but Windows Mobile 6.x wasn't relevant after iPhone 1.0 back in January 2007. And instead of trying to get Windows Mobile Se7en up to iPhone 1.0 standards, you might want to think outside the little beige box and shoot for something innovative your own self?

And no, spreading rumors of a Blu-Ray Xbox 360 in some attempt to "steal Apple's thunder" is not innovative. A giant, red-ringing, PowerPC, noisy, inelegant gaming machine, no matter how we loves us our Gears of War, suddenly getting the technology that beat the stuffing out of your own HD-DVD format years after Sony released it in the PS3 just doesn't crossover the same news circles.

But here's an idea: maybe call that friend of yours Bill. You remember him, the one you no longer need but may still use? (Leastways he could help keep you from blurting out your envy towards the iPhone's admittedly top-tier browser experience...)

Government Tracking Treo Users

TreoCentral.com is claiming that the US government is tracking cellphone users. Since some of us aren't in the US, or in Government, we have no way of knowing whether this is true or not, but since we grew up on everything from Orwell to the Matrix, we kinda just assumed it already.

What's particularly disturbing, however, is that TreoCentral.com reporting this makes us think the US Government is tracking Treo users as well.

Why?

Is it for anthropology, like when the Discovery Channel finds some lost, never before contacted Amazonian tribe and wants to study their behavior? Is it that they think tax dollars are well spent analyzing a people untouched by mobile technology since 1999?

Dunno. But we sure hope Dr. Jones doesn't get a shunning for his troubles.

And in No Other News

HTC finally got around to still not releasing their HTC Touch Diamond, which early reviews say just crackles on EDGE, given its lack of support for North American HSPA. Not a problem though, as it seems the OS is slow enough that you can barely notice...

Points for consistency, but you had to know slapping an extra layer of OS on top of WinMob and then chipping down the radio was putting the advertising spin before the handset, right?

InfoWorld's Peter Bruzzese is the kind of IT guy who's old enough to have lived through every major paradigm shift in technology. When not plodding along at his Windows workstation, surrounded by a sea of blade servers, he's regaling colleagues and friends with his adventures back in the heady days of DOS computers and UNIX mainframes. The very mention of OS/2 gets him misty eyed, and if you see him hunched over a book about Fortran, well... just leave him be.

So when the old Windows warhorse suddenly took a shine to iPhone, people began wondering... and worrying. Somehow this grizzled old Windows veteran became an iPhone lover, wildly exploring its features like a five year-old in a McDonald's playland, without the greasy fingerprints and spilled drinks.

But old habbits are hard to break. Peter is still heavily rooted in his Windows world, and continues using a Windows Mobile 6 device for its Exchange DirectPush support. So he wanders through the hallowed halls of InfoWorld wearing a Batman utility belt and pouched vest to carry his iPhone, Windows Mobile phone, Pager, GPS receiver, tape recorder, and PalmPilot. He's old school, but all class.

Read

Of all the smartphones we test during the Smartphone Round Robin, the constraints of our phone exchange is felt most with the Windows Mobile 6 AT&T Tilt. One week is just not enough to get a full grasp on what Windows Mobile can do. If you've read some of my other reviews, you'll hopefully recognize that as a compliment-dig.

INFINITE POWER

The thing about Windows Mobile that I came to appreciate is that it's ridiculously powerful. If I want to check my mail, I can do it. If I want to browse the web, I can do it. If I don't like the default app that ships with Windows Mobile, I can replace it with a better one. The system is admittedly a tweaker's paradise. If you like getting gadgets and playing with them and they're like toys for you, than Windows Mobile is basically an infinite playground.

All of the user interface metaphors are pretty much the same as Windows, good or bad. If a person is familiar with Windows, they'll be fairly familiar with Windows Mobile.

I spent most of the week untethered to a desktop with the Tilt. I'm not sure there's really any huge need to sync it to a desktop, which is a real breath of fresh breath of air coming from the activate-jailbreak-unlock world of the iPhone. I installed programs online, I checked all of the email that I wanted to -- I can really see why Microsoft thinks that Windows Mobile could replace the computer in some parts of the world. If I could plug in a keyboard and add a decent sized-screen, there isn't much that it can't do in terms of simple computing tasks -- edit documents, spreadsheets, powerpoint presentations, play games, browse the web, work with calendars, to-do, shared calendars... the whole shebang, and you don't even really need to interact with a computer to do any of it. It's an obscenely powerful mobile platform, and that I respect.

The other thing that I respect is that Microsoft has made their system easy to expand upon -- if I don't like the Today screen, I can replace it with something better (and I did -- SPB Mobile Shell). If I don't like the default browser (and I don't), I can replace it with something better (usually Opera Mini, but I decided to give Opera Mobile a shot this time, since I could). If I don't like the default keyboards (and I didn't), I could replace them with myriad other keyboards, many of them iPhone-like. I think I've even got an old iPhone theme that I could install on Windows Mobile from way back in the day, before the lawyers dragged it off the internet. I didn't think of it until after I sent the Tilt on to Jennifer, which is a bummer.

ITTY BITTY LIVING SPACE

It would probably take me a few weeks to get used to Windows Mobile. Maybe more, maybe a few months. But I could get used to it. It would probably be second nature after a while, I wouldn't have to think about it. But you definitely have to think about it at first: the out-of-box experience on the Tilt isn't so great. I had to install a bunch of programs to get to the point where I wasn't constantly snarling at it. Some other Windows Mobile might ship with those programs pre-installed. Or maybe someone works at a business where they pre-install those applications for you.

It would be better if it wouldn't take a few weeks, though -- one of the things that I really like about using the iPhone is that I never had to figure "the platform" out. I could just start using it. I didn't have to dig through a new style of control panel, I didn't have to try all of the different screen input methods to figure out if there was one that was usable.

what you get with 240x240. Not to scale. Not representative. Not from Windows Mobile 6. Windows Mobile 5. Not ideal

There are reasons that I was hoping to skip over Windows Mobile 6. I've heard a lot about Photon, the successor to Windows Mobile 6. It supposedly is a drastic rewrite of the general interface to Windows Mobile. I'm glad that the Tilt had a 320x240 screen, because using WM6 on the Treo 750 with its 240x240 always bugged me. And those omnipresent menu bars at the top and bottom of the screen, I was never sure that they were necessary. And the scroll bar on the right, it eats up so much space. I wish they were some of the theme-able bits of Windows Mobile, because I hate wasting that much screen space. It's one of the reasons that I purchased a 680 instead of a 750, honestly. One thing that I've learned from using the Tilt is this: the more pixels Windows Mobile has, the less it bugs me. One other thing: the Windows Mobile Start Menu is too dang small for my fingers.

Though I wasn't especially a fan of the Tilt's form factor, it's pretty close to my current ideal: a flat brick with a full touchscreen. The tilting screen and slider form factor felt kind of gimmicky after a while. I'd be happier if it was a full touchscreen device with no hardware keyboard, but still: it's close to what I like best, and that definitely made my week with the Tilt more pleasant. I am fond of the iPhone form factor (and I'll admit that I've made fun of the LG KS720, also called the LG Prada 2), and the Tilt was close enough that the odd stylings of the device didn't bug me. The Tilt is a big device, which is probably why Dieter shipped it out with a belt holster. It's almost too big to be pocketable -- almost.

And Windows Mobile could ship with a better software keyboard. Something my fingers could use would be awesome, the iPhone really opened up that world to me. I didn't know how much I hated styluses until I didn't have to use one anymore, and if they were able to tune Windows Mobile to the point where it didn't need a stylus, they'd be able to ship devices that were thinner. Ditto for that sliding keyboard gimmick, but that's not Windows Mobile's fault. There are so many Windows Mobile phones of different shapes, sizes, and functionalities, odds are good that I could find one that fit me better.

WINDOWS ALL OVER AGAIN

The developer community around Windows Mobile is immense and vibrant -- there's so many different apps out there, it's practically bewildering. I didn't know where to start. Not only does Windows Mobile ship with an office suite, but if it doesn't cut the mustard for you, there's a better one available. If you miss having a BlackBerry around, you can get their BlackBerry Connect software installed, which I'm pretty sure saved Kevin's life.

It's a great mobile gadget platform, and there are a lot of things to like about it. It might be the most advanced smartphone OS that I've ever used (I won't be able to say definitively until there are 3rd party apps for the iPhone), but there are downsides to using it.

Interoperability

The biggest downside to using Windows Mobile is that, well, it's Windows all over again. You take the good, you take the bad, right?. If you're already using Windows and Office and Outlook and Exchange, Windows Mobile is (or should be) a no-brainer for you. You're already sucked in 80% of the way, you might as well collect all 5. That's the way Microsoft designs their software, to keep you inside the ecosystem. The more you stray outside of the Microsoft ecosystem, the more isolated Windows Mobile seems to be.

As it ships, Windows Mobile doesn't have any way to sync information over from a Macintosh. There is software available that does it: Mark/Space's Missing Sync for Windows Mobile ($40). Usually though, Mark/Space's deal has been to add extra features to syncing, so you get more than what the generic handset sync software will give you, instead of being the only possible solution.

I'm used to living in a Windows world, though -- I tend to keep all of my contacts and calendars online if I can, in Google or Yahoo! or .Mac or whatever so I can keep my data portable; I don't like putting all of my eggs in one basket in case of some sort of computer catastrophe. I figured I could import some contacts from one of those very popular online services. I was wrong.

As it turns out, the recommended way to really move data over into Windows Mobile would be to Outlook or Outlook Express... via a CSV file. If you don't know what a CSV file is, it's an ancient primitive text spreadsheet. The copy of Outlook Express on my Windows box doesn't have a field for Mobile phones, which -- as you might well assume -- is a dealbreaker in terms of categorization. The situation might be different with Outlook, but that's another $110. Even then, I'm probably still looking at hacking my way through a CSV file.

There's an easy answer to this: provide iSync conduits for the Mac, or some software to sync with the big online services. I have no idea why Microsoft doesn't do this anyway. They'd be able to sell Windows Mobile phones to a lot more customers if they did that one simple thing. Another option would be to sync with one of the online services. It's frustrating to see all of my contacts in the Yahoo! Go app on the Tilt, knowing that there's no simple way to get them into the Tilt's contact system. If they fix that, everybody wins! It's not like someone is going to pick an email address or a computer based on what mobile phone they can sync it with. I don't think it will threaten their monopoly on the desktop. It's all pretty simple: you put the horse in front of the cart.

HAVE YOU BEEN DOING THE MATH?

If you've been adding up the cost of software that I'd need to buy to use the Tilt as my permanent main brain, you realize that there's a real cost of acquisition to Windows Mobile. It takes time to get it to work in a way that makes sense, it costs a lot of money to get software for some basic functionality, and if you're on a Mac or not using one of the Microsoft services for anything you're in a special world of hurt.

If you're running a standard Microsoft shop though, there's less cost involved.

TECHNOLOGY RISEN FROM THE GRAVE

It seems that Windows Mobile is still very much a work in progress, like they haven't fully figured out how to make it friendly for use, and occasionally the curse of MS-DOS pokes its head out. They're trying, you can tell they're trying to remove the cruft. That's why they gave me the choice of "Intermediate GPS Driver" and my choice of 20 or so COM ports. COM Ports! What is this, the eighties?

Did I mention CSV spreadsheet files already? Why yes, I did. Let's see, did I use the words "ancient" and "primitive?" Yes on both counts. I believed I mentioned them just 4 paragraphs ago. And here they are again.

Some of the experiences in using Windows Mobile are really jarring. Here is this incredibly advanced mobile operating system, but due to these weird compatibility or interoperability decisions that Microsoft has made, you get lurched back in time to do some things that should be very easy and simple. It really doesn't make sense to me. I'm sure they'll update Pocket IE one of these days. Maybe this stuff will be less transparent in Photon. Maybe then I won't be able to see the old man behind the curtain.

LAST THOUGHTS

It's powerful. I spent many hours customizing everything. I was able to do anything that I could do on the other platforms and more. "Where do you want to go tomorrow" and stuff. It's still not friendly to use. It required a lot of tweakery and extra apps to get it to work in a decent way. The user interface, though I think it's better than the BlackBerry's cluttered featurephone interface, is still kind of a mess. It's a powerful mess, but I'd rather not have to memorize all of these arcane things just to do some simple things on my mobile phone. There's a real complexity problem with Windows Mobile, much more so than with the other smartphones. In a lot of senses, the crown of "most powerful smartphone is a pyrrhic victory, achieved at great cost.

I saw this Neonode N2 phone cross by in my RSS reader, and it looks like it could practically be the iPhone Nano. After reading the review at pencomputing.com it's clearly not, but the N2 is absolutely tiny. It's also built off a touchscreen interface, though the N2's is built off infrared instead of multitouch. The weirdest thing is that the Neonode N2 and N1 have been using iphone touch, tap, and swipe interfaces since 2002 -- they've been around a while.

The other weirdest thing about the N2 is that it's built off Windows CE, just like Windows Mobile, except the N2 doesn't add all of the Windows Mobile interface, they just use the bare guts of CE and add their own pretty. I have to say, it looks pretty decent from the few screenshots.

I'm not going to say that it's going to sell like hotcakes, because it probably won't. It costs about $645 US, doesn't do 3rd party apps, doesn't even do EDGE, and does only 1 GB of storage. They use a mobile processor I've never heard of on its own boffo architecture, so converting apps over isn't necessarily going to be a slice of pie or a walk in the park. I just figured it's kind of interesting. I wonder how well they patented their stuff and if we'll see yet another iPhone lawsuit.

This guy Core of wickedpsyched.net coded a version of AFP, the Apple Filesharing Protocol, for the iPhone and iPod Touch. This means that you could enable filesharing on your iPhone and copy some files over directly from your desktop over wi-fi. If you ask me, this is better than disk mode, where you can plug in your iPhone and it shows up as a removable disk. It apparently doesn't show up in Installer.app yet, but give it a few days and I'm sure it will be there.

There's also great news if you're more of a windows person. Say you just prefer the Samba/SMB/Windows Filesharing so you can share with windows and mac, well he's got you covered there too.

figure 1: It is with a heavy heart that Pogue informs us that the latest Windows Mobile phone from T-Mobile blows.

David Pogue has an excellent article on how the iPhone really broke down a bunch of barriers in the smartphone world, the best he claims, is "the way Apple took veto power away from the cellphone carriers."

So yeah, that's just the first sentence. The unfortunate part of the article is that most of the rest of it is a review for a T-Mobile Windows Mobile device. The good news is this: if you want to think about how awesome your iPhone is compared to a poorly-implemented Windows Mobile device, the second half of his article will really interest you. There's a silver lining in every cloud, right?

For the past few days, I've been working with the AT&T Tilt, a Windows Mobile smartphone. I've used Windows Mobile before, so this isn't quite the new experience that the BlackBerry Curve was, but I haven't used the latest version of Windows Mobile (version 6) either. I used WM5 with a Treo 750 for a while, but I ended up dealing with a bad bug that prevented calls from ringing. That was pretty much a killer for the device, and I stopped using it.

And that would be the end of the story, but for the Smartphone Round Robin. And here we are again.

First, Some History

When I last used Windows Mobile, I was frustrated at the lack of real estate -- I was used to a 320x320 screen from the Treo 680 (which I'll be using again next week), and the 750's 240x240 screen felt really small. When the pixels are limited like that, the seemingly glaring excesses of the Windows Mobile interface... the bars across the bottom and top of the screen, plus the right scroll bar: I was not a happy camper with how the real estate was divided. Dieter of WMExperts told me that WM6 was basically WM5, but with less bugs. The user interface, the way that Windows Mobile presents itself to people using it, was pretty much unchanged, and I figured that maybe I'd check out Windows Mobile again once their new version, Photon, was available. This was all pre-iPhone, so my options of escape were a bit limited.

But, that was a different device, a different Windows Mobile, and a different time. Which leads us, finally, to the Tilt.

About the Tilt

The tilt is a Windows Mobile slider, meaning that it has an iPhone-like front, except that it slides up along the middle to reveal a full-sized keyboard along the front. The form factor, except for the sliding part, is a lot like the iPhone. Oh, and the double-thickness. The iPhone is perhaps a centimeter longer, but half the depth.

The Tilt is huge -- not a device that you can use with just one hand. And there are buttons all over the place -- one for the camera, one for power/sleep, one for push-to-talk, two OK buttons, and a scroll wheel. Then there are phone, hangup, mail, browser, start, left menu, right menu, and (another) OK key. Then there's the 5-way directional pad. Many, though not all, of these keys are present yet again in the slider keyboard.

The Size is Deceptive

The battery life on the Tilt is a bit of a disappointment. With the iPhone, I'm used to leaving wi-fi on pretty much all of the time. I recharge the phone about every two or three days. With the Tilt, battery life is great -- as long as that Wi-Fi is off, and I don't have any programs chewing up bandwidth in the background. I suppose this could be said of any phone, but given the size of the Tilt, I kind of expect more battery life out of it.

Given the size, I also kind of expect more speed... response on the Tilt is a bit sluggish, which kind of surprised me. I don't know if it's a RAM issue or a processor speed thing, all I know is that the Tilt is kind of pokey. Windows Mobile ships with its own special version of the spinny beach ball that indicates that something is going on. You can't do anything while the ball spins, the mobile is pretty much locked.

Those are the bad things about the Tilt, off the bat. I'm still not a fan of Windows Mobile, I still find myself lamenting that the UI is bad. The start menu is too small to be thumbable accurately, for example.

Redemptions

But there are good things about Windows Mobile, there always have been. One thing that I do like about Windows Mobile is the power of it all. Real multi-tasking is a boon. Of all of the smartphones that everyone has been using over the Smartphone Round Robin, the Tilt is the only one that really has it. If you want to have GPS mapping going while you browse the web whilst music plays in the background, have at it. The Tilt may not be especially responsive during that time, but it will work.

Windows Mobile also has "a real file system." With that real filesystem come a lot of benefits. For most things, it means "real apps." If you want to download something to your phone, have at it. If you want Outlook on your phone, it's there. If you want to make powerpoint documents or spreadsheets or word documents, it's all there, ready for you to use. It's a very powerful system.

For Every Gripe, an Equal and Opposite 3rd Party App

And though there are a lot of things that I don't like about the way Windows Mobile looks and behaves, there's a slew of programs out there that attempt to fix it.

I don't like the Today screen, for example. I miss having a useful background image, and I don't like the way that the standard information is presented to me. There are programs out there that fix that -- the most notable one is probably SPB Mobile Shell, which I use to replace the default 'Today' screen.

The browser is really bad, too. Pocket IE is pretty much a joke -- it's incredibly slow and absolutely offsets any speed gains you get from using the Tilt with a 3G network. Opera Mobile to the rescue! It's not as good as MobileSafari on the iPhone, but it's a sight better than Pocket IE. You can use it to replace pretty much everything that PIE does -- download files, the whole shebang. Opera Mobile is one of the reasons that I've been looking forward to using the Tilt.

I also think that the software keyboard on the Tilt is very bad -- it's tiny and requires frequent use of the stylus. I'm pretty certain that there's an iPhone-like keyboard available. One of the times that I tapped the keyboard with the stylus, though, I got a menu where I could pick and choose from several less-bad software keyboards. The keys are still infintesimal on most of them, but there's a choice. And some of the helpful forum users have pointed me to other software keyboards that might be better, and I'm pretty sure that there's an iPhone software keyboard clone floating around on the itnernet somewhere.

Nothing to Reference

One of the things that sets Windows Mobile apart from the other smartphones we're all testing is that Microsoft doesn't actually make the device -- they just make the software. The rest is all up to HTC, or Palm, or Motorola, or anyone who decides to ship a Windows Mobile smartphone.

This is both a good thing and a bad thing. It's a good thing because it's a platform -- it means that anyone that wants to build a smartphone and has the hardware know-how can build one, because they don't need nearly as many people to get the software side of things working. Since all of these hardware companies are using the same software platform, it means that it's a lot easier to get better apps to use and games to play with -- it gives Windows Mobile a lot of legs, in terms of what you can do with it.

The downside to all of this is that you don't necessarily get a strong design edge out of this method of doing things. It's a lot like Microsoft in the computer world -- maybe your average beige computer box is kind of ugly, but that's not Microsoft's fault, they just did the software.

And HTC's Tilt, though not by any means a bad-looking device, shows all the symptoms of this problem. There are huge buttons all over the place, but the hardest one to find and activate is the sleep button. The red phone button, which we've all been taught with countless featurephone designs, should turn the device on, or at least wake it up from sleep. Looks like someone missed that, as the red phone button does nothing. It may be that there's a way to swap those buttons in software -- if there is, please post.

Endless Customizability

One of the other things about Windows Mobile that struck me is that there's endless customizability. I'm willing to bet that many if not all of the things that I can find that I don't like, there's an app or tweak or registry edit that fixes it. All that matters is that you have the time, knowledge, and/or money to throw at the things you don't like about Windows Mobile. And that you have a parachute for the learning cliff.

The fourth annual iLounge 2008 Buyers Guide works for the iPhone and iPod, and is viewable online for smaller screens like the iPhone, iPod Touch, or laptops. If you prefer, for desktop viewing.

Verizon is lowering their data rates for feature phones in preparation for competition with the iPhone. Expect a snarky comment from Dieter on this one. Unfortunately, their smartphone data rates are still sky-high. And, you can add a Canadian roaming plan for just $20. The Phone they're thinking about using to "compete" with the iPhone is the Samsung F700, though they might re-brand it as the U940. That's some "brilliant marketing." I don't usually report on "iPhone killers," but I'm glad to see the iPhone forcing prices down for everybody.

Rumors from AppleInsider indicate that iTunes 7.5 will be coming out in the next couple of weeks. This probably means that any iPhone updates with post-Leopard goodness require an iTunes update. This iTunes update will also bring support for the UK, German, and likely French iPhones. Oh, and it will include better duplicate song management. w00t!

Mark/Space, makers of many popular "Missing Sync" smartphone sync softwares, have announced their intent to release "Missing Sync for the iPhone" later this year. Their software will include Notes.app syncing, SMS backups, better call log management, and a migration tool to copy data from a BlackBerry, Palm OS, or Windows Mobile smartphone.

Just a small update - if you want to downgrade your iPhone from 1.1.1 back to 1.0.2, iBrickr will guide you through it. No button holding either, it's easy!

If you use a Windows PC as a DVR and are looking to get away from iTunes for syncing your video to your iPhone or iPod, it looks like Beyond TV might be worth a peek. The new version of Beyond TV, 4.7, not only syncs your shows to the iPhone or iPod, but also pulls out your podcasts from iTunes. Not bad!

Ever since the iPhone was announced, people have been clamoring to write native applications for it. Sadly, Apple has not yet released the tools necessary to develop those apps. However, if you've been following the iPhone news you realize that the iPhone has been "hacked." What does this mean to you, the nonhacker? Well it means that thanks to the mighty efforts of many dedicated people, you can install applications directly onto your iPhone. The best part, it's easy. Read on for our full How-To on how to hack your iPhone so you can install applications.

Step One: Update and Backup

First up: update iTunes. Just open up iTunes, go to the 'Help' menu, and select 'Update iTunes'. You can also click on 'Apple Software Update' from the 'All Programs' section of your Start Menu. If iTunes informs you that it needs to reboot, do it. As of this writing, you can use the simple hacking method described in this article with any recent version of iTunes. I write that because it's theoretically possible Apple will prevent it from working in the future. On the bright side, the fact that they haven't stopped it yet is a good sign. If this first step ever changes, we will update this article to let you know.

Updating iTunes: Open up iTunes, select the 'Help' menu, then click on 'Check for Updates'. OR...

Click your Start menu, select 'All Programs', and click on 'Apple Software Update'. Either one should be fine.

What you're about to embark on isn't supported by Apple, but nevertheless it's been proven safe and easy by thousands of users. Still, it's always a good idea to do a backup before you do anything major with any computing device, including your iPhone. Backing up your iPhone is simple - just sync it to iTunes. Done.

(If you want to be extra-careful, it may be worthwhile to create a System Restore point before you proceed, so you don't mess up any of your mail, contacts, or bookmarks.)

Step Two: Download AppTappInstaller

Head on over to http://iphone.nullriver.com/beta/, where you'll find the download for the Windows version of AppTappInstaller. Click the download link in the big orange box (and feel free to ignore the copious amounts of technical jargon on that page). They do have a direct download link for the Windows version, it's available at http://www.nullriver.com/~adam/AppTappInstaller.exe

...Believe it or not, you're halfway done!

Step Three: Hack Your iPhone!

Now open up AppTappInstaller.exe - you can put it in your start menu if you like, but I just ran it directly from my Desktop. It almost makes more sense to do it that way, because:

1. You probably won't have to go through this process again anytime soon
2. If you do ever need to redo it, you'll want to download the latest version of the installer anyway.

So now we're greeted with the opening window, which has a warning in RED, so you should read it:

You already updated iTunes in step one, so the only thing you need to do here is quit iTunes. If you haven't done so already, place your iPhone in the dock, let it sync, and then quit iTunes. Some parts of iTunes still run even if you quit, so you should also hold down the CONTROL, ALT, and DELETE keys to bring up Windows' Task Manager. Highlight 'iTunes Helper App' and then click 'End Task'. Now, go back to AppTappInstaller.exe, and click 'Continue'. Next up is a screen asking you to pick your Firmware version:

You almost surely have the 1.0.2 (as of this writing) version of the firmware. But as the window says, you should double-check. On your iPhone, go to Settings -> General -> About -> Version. If you don't have version 1.0.2 installed, I'd actually recommend you install it. (To do so, go into iTunes, click your iPhone, click the "Summary" tab, and then click the "Check for Update" button.)

Double check that iTunes isn't open and then select 'Firmware 1.0.2'. Click 'Continue'. What happens now is that AppTapp is going to grab the firmware, then it will "hack it" behind the scenes, and finally install the "hacked firmware" onto your iPhone. The whole process should take no more than 5 minutes.

During this process, do not disconnect your iPhone. Moreover, you'll see the yellow "Please connect to iTunes" icon a couple of times - do not fret and do not open iTunes. Just let the installer do its thing.

When it's all said and done your iPhone will be identical to what it was before with one important difference, you now have an icon on your home screen called "Installer." Congratulations, you've hacked your iPhone!

In the unlikely event something went wrong, see the appendix below on resetting your iPhone.

Step Four: Getting started with Installer.app

We'll start with two points before we jump into Installer.app. The first point is that Installer.app is sweet. I've been using smartphones for many years now, and this application put together by Null River is the best experience I've ever had installing applications. The second point is that we will have a full run-down on Installer.app tomorrow, stay tuned.

Until then, here's some information to tide you over.

Every time you open Installer.app, it will want to get online to check to see if there have been any updates to your installed programs and to download the latest list of programs. So don't fret if it pauses for a moment. You will really want to be on WiFi when using this app, too, although it's not the end of the world if you're using it on EDGE.

Your first step should be to tap on the "Install" tab on the top and then install "Community Sources." This will make Installer.app check a few different places for applications, giving you a wider selection to choose from. Simply tap the "Install" button in the upper-right.

Your second step: install some apps! I'd recommend starting with some games and perhaps ApolloIM or MobileChat for Instant Messaging.

Here's the thing, as soon as you install your 4th app, you'll find that they have scrolled off your main screen. Bummer. There are several applications that fix that issue, but my favorite by far is an application called "SummerBoard" (Under System). Summerboard makes your home screen (aka your "SpringBoard") scrollable like any other iPhone screen. Note that you'll have to reset your iPhone after you install this app. The best way to do that? That would be number 2 in the appendix below.

Welcome to the World of Native Applications!

Officially sanctioned by Apple or not, the native applications for the iPhone are really great and getting better every day. So far Apple has released several updates to both the iPhone and to iTunes without breaking any of the functionality of these native applications, so it's reasonable to expect that they'll continue to work for the foreseeable future.

Appendix: Resetting your iPhone

Like most smartphones, the iPhone has a few curious button combinations you will want to have in your bag of tricks in case anything ever goes wrong. Here they are in escalating order - which is to say you should try #1 before #2, #2 before #3, and so on.

1. Force-quit an application. You know you can hit the home button to return to your home screen, but your home button has another function. Hold it down when you're in a frozen application to force-quit that application. This is especially useful in Safari and Mail (the buggiest of the iPhones apps in my experience). Just keep holding it until you're back at the home screen.
2. Turn off your iPhone. This is the easiest way to reset the iPhone (and the safest). Just hold down the sleep/wake button until a red slider appears on your screen. Slide your finger across it and your iPhone will shut down. Hold the sleep/wake button down again to turn it back on.
3. Reset your iPhone. If holding down the sleep/wake button doesn't work, you can also try to just force a reset of your iPhone. To do that, hold down both the sleep/wake button and the home button until the apple logo appears. That's your iPhone booting up.
4. Reset your Settings. If your iPhone is still acting buggy, there's still one last step you can try before resorting to a full restore. Head on into your iPhone's Settings, choose General, then choose Reset. Inside you'll find a few reset options. Start with "Reset All Settings," which will do what it says but not actually delete anything. "Reset All Content and Settings" will delete all of your data (but not the Installer.app!), so you'll have to resync it over if you use that option.
5. Restore Mode. It's very rare, but sometimes you'll just need to start from scratch. Note that you're going to want to have your computer on hand when you do this option, as you will not only lose all of your data right away, but you will also be unable to use your iPhone at all until you've connected it to your computer. To do it, hold down both the sleep/wake button and the home button for a long time - around 30 seconds or so. Eventually a yellow triangle will pop up commanding you to connect the iPhone to iTunes. Do that and then you'll need to do a full restore. Note that this option absolutely wipes everything from your iPhone: contacts, data, and applications, and returns it to a "factory state."

ModMyiPhone is living up to its name. A haxor developer nicknamed "Cranium" has created a Windows-based File browser that enables users to access and transfer files directly to the iPhone, in mounted fashion, bypassing the sync process.

Unfortunately this is a quick and dirty application created in visual basic express. There is no installer and you'll need .Net libs to make the magic happen. But if you do manage to fill these requirements, you'll be rewarded with a window to your iPhone that allows full drag and drop support, Right-click save as, Auto previews, file backups, etc. The usual fare.

Finally! A reason to use Windows! Nah.

Read

Parallels is beta testing a new release of its desktop virtualization software that incorporates iPhone syncing with XP and Vista. Now you're probably asking yourself "Why the hell would I want to sync my iPhone with a Windows virtual machine on a Mac?" And honestly, other than perhaps the same reason my Doberman Pinscher licks his genitals, I can't think of one good reason. But it's nice to know the option is there should I choose to utilize it, right?

Among the added features in this release...

    <li>Coherence windows now work with Expose! This means that each individual Windows application window will appears a separate, selectable window when you hit F9 to enter Expose. Windows windows (man, that sounds weird to say…) also have neat OS X effects too, like drop shadows. You’ll also be able to “stack” Windows application and Mac application windows in any order you’d like, so the experience is completely seamless.</li>

<li>The Image Tool is back at full strength and completely compatible with snapshotted drives. Using the image tool, users can:
      - Convert virtual hard drive format (plain to expanding, expanding to plain), 
      - Enable/disable the "undo disk" option, which will erase all changes made during a session at shutdown. Its ideal for those of you doing a lot of testing or working in school settings), 
      - Easily enlarge a virtual hard drive if you're running out of space.</li>

    <li>Explorer, our free utility that lets you browse and work with your VM’s hard drive even with the VM is off, now also works with VMs that are suspended. Be sure to read the release notes/user guide on how to do this safely.</li>
<li>iPhone support in XP and Vista. Yes, I realize the irony of syncing an Apple device with Windows running on a Mac, but lots of people need to hook their iPhones up to Outlook. Try not to judge.</li>

Sounds delicious! Download the beta here.

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Chapura has added a new application to its product lineup, called FoldedMirror. What this application does is enable iPhone users to connect with Outlook Calendar and Contacts folders right from their device, by mirroring data created on a PC running Microsoft Outlook. A host PC is required, with Outlook running at all times, in order for this process to work. FoldedMirror doesn't come cheap, however. A single user license will set you back $49.95. Ouch!

I haven't yet put this software to the test since I already use a hosted Exchange account but it looks very promising. You can read the full press release here.

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