ForcaTech Blog

For those unfamiliar HumbleBundle.com periodically offers a collection of games at a price you can choose yourself. You have the option of how much of the money you pay goes towards the game developers, charities, the website, etc. Their most recent deal includes support for the Android platform meaning any of the games you purchase through this humble bundle are playable on Windows, Mac OS, Linux and Android.

At the time of this posting for around $6 you get 4 cross-platform games but for $60 worth of games I would encourage all to give what they can. [HumbleBundle]

So its almost here. Excited? February 10th fan boys and girls will be rushing to their nearest retailer to pick up their long awaited Verizon iPhone. But should you?

Sure. I guess. There are plenty of reasons why you should and shouldn’t. For those of you coming from an AT&T iPhone 4 you may be disappointed. While Verizons voice and data coverage is much better their 3G speeds are lacking in comparison to AT&Ts. From my experience I was able to get speeds around 300kbps while indoors with AT&Ts 3G as opposed to around 80kbps with Verizons 3G.

Another down side to the Verizon iPhone is the CDMA network it is on. While using the AT&T flavor of iPhone you can use voice and data simultaneously. Verizons network is limited to either data OR voice until LTE hits later this year however the iPhone 4 isn’t LTE capable.

One other difference while not as big of a deal to me personally is the lack of a SIM card. If you need to swap between handsets you won’t be able to simply swap SIM cards. Instead you will have the pleasure of going into a Verizon store or calling customer service.

On top of all of this the iPhone 4 has been out for 8 months and with Apples yearly release schedule a new flavor of iPhone is bound to be coming out fairly soon. Perhaps an LTE version of iPhone will be release just a few short months after you get locked into another 2 year agreement…

Despite all of this hundreds of thousands of you will be picking up your modern, shiny iPhone 4 thanks to the marketing genius that Apple is and Verizons iPhone pre-orders have been sold out for a while.

Of course there are arguments in favor of getting the iPhone with Verizon. For starters there are those of you bound to Verizon whether it be from being locked into a family plan, AT&T not having as good of service in your area or various other reasons. For me who is rarely on the phone, always using data and in a good AT&T coverage area the AT&T iPhone is the way to go.

Then again you could always go android, but I will open that can of worms later.

The battle rages on. Pre just got its WebOS 1.2.1 update. What does this mean? Not much if you don’t use iTunes. If you do, you can sync your pre once again. Hurry and sync it up! Apple is sure to come out with an update in the coming weeks that will once again block it. Then, a few weeks later Palm with come out with WebOS 1.2.2 that will unblock it once again. And so on, forever.

At first sight the picture above looks like the control panel from a Sci-Fi space ship. It is actually a sketch of apples latest patent which is suppose to be a large multi-touch surface that can recognize all 10 of your fingers and palms as well as your cheek and nose when you smoosh your face against it.

In the patent filing they claim that this system would provide, “unprecedented integration of typing, resting, pointing, scrolling, 3D manipulation, and handwriting into a versatile, ergonomic computer input device.” Whether they plan on making a futuristic keyboard, mouse replacement or they are looking to put this technology on the Apple Tablet we are excited to see this come to the market. If Apple decided to put it on the Coca-Cola Freestyle Dispenser we would still be excited to see it.

After months of rumors it looks like ATT has finally decided to roll out their femtocells in a soft launch to a few markets. Those markets include Atlanta, San Antonio, Seattle and a city or two in North Carolina.

What is a femtocell? It is a device used to extend your wireless/3G range. If you live in an area where the reception is bad then you can pick up one of these devices, hook it up to your home internet connection and get a beautifully strong 3G connection.

While this is great and all, you are having to plug this into your router, which is most likely a wireless router…. which will give you a better connection over WiFi than you will get over the femtocell 3G. Now all phones don’t have WiFi capabilities and so this is a big perk for the 3 nation wide customers few ATT customers who have a data plan with a phone that doesn’t have WiFi built in.

This should help alleviate some of the 3G load and make it a little more reliable and snappy but since the majority of 3G is eaten by iPhone users and the femtocell doesn’t really help to get iPhone users off 3G I foresee the improvements being minimal. [BGR]

So the time comes in every quazi-techy persons life. Should I get the iPhone? Unfortunately I can’t answer that for you for less than $1,000. There are many other devices to choose from but as I believe the only real competitor that is available/soon to be available is the Omnia 2 I am going to write this post as if these are your only two options. I am not going to do a full review of either phone as I have spent alot of time discussing them but if you want more information you can read up on the 100 reason I feel you should buy an iPhone and everything you could ever want to know about the Omnia 2.

Did you read up on those? Here we go.

Since none of you actually read the info from either of those links let me catch you up to speed on the Omnia 2. Since mid summer we have been hearing rumors of the O2 and in August it was released in other countries. It is a beautiful phone. I don’t believe anyone will argue with me if I say that the Omnia 2 hardware far surpasses the iPhone in almost every department except the Omnia 2 has a resistive screen while the iPhone has a capacitive screen which is much more finger friendly. Resistive screens are the soft screens that work best with a stylus like you see on PDAs and smart phones. Capacitive screens are the hard screens seen on iPhones and a few other phones like the G1. A regular stylus won’t work with these as something conductive needs to press on the screen.

Whoa, tangent. Moving on…

Some reasons you would go with the Omnia 2 include:

• Windows Mobile
• Handwriting recognition
• Capable of running multiple programs at once
• Hardware, hardware, hardware — Even after Verizon removes the forward facing camera and possibly locks down the GPS to only be usable with their Apps the Omnia 2 has very impressive hardware including a 5mpx camera and AMOLED screen(real quick, an AMOLED screen only turns on the pixels it needs. If you are viewing black those pixels are actually turned off allowing for deeper blacks, better colors and better battery life)
• On the Verizon network which–for the time being–is more reliable than ATTs
• Tethering(the ability to use your phones internet connection on your computer) — Not really a perk as the iPhone will be getting that soon and right now you can jailbreak your iPhone to allow you to do it now(don’t do this! Apple/ATT don’t want you to and I don’t want to hear from you saying you broke your iPhone. In case you forgot what I said one sentence ago, DON’T JAILBREAK YOUR IPHONE!!)

That about wraps it up. If WinMo is a need for you then there isn’t really a decision for you to make, however if you want me to convince you that you don’t need Windows Mobile I can do that for you as well.

Some reasons to buy the iPhone:

• The Omnia 2 isn’t and will never be as finger friendly and intuitive as the iPhone. –I went into a VZ store and messed around with the Rogue which has the same type of screen(AMOLED resistive) and same interface (sans WinMo) and I wasn’t very impressed. IMO a resistive touch screen is never going to feel as good with a finger as capacitive
• The Omnia 2 hardware is the only thing that I cared about that it has over the iPhone but after Verizon gets its hands on it there will no longer be the forward facing camera, GPS will most likely be restricted to their Apps and the TouchWiz 2.0 UI will probably be tainted with their “improvements”
• The iPhone has a huge community following that the CDMA version of the Omnia 2 will never have. If there is something you wish the iphone could do there is probably an App to do it. Verizon is probably going to block every App store except for their own.
• The iPhone OS is snappy, especially with the 3GS, allowing you to be much more efficient. From the videos I have seen of the Omnia 2 it is not as responsive and it is probably going to be even less so when it is running WinMo 6.5
• I don’t want to have to use a stylus!
• The iPhone is made around media as well as productivity. With WinMo you have to download 3rd party programs to play most media types.
• The iPhone exists and isn’t just a figment of our imagination that Verizon is using to keep us with them.
• PUSH. Currently with WinMo you have to set your device to connect to the internet and search for changes every so often which can hog battery life.

Well, not to void this entire post I decided to withhold the following information from you.

I got tired of waiting. After talking to several employees of the big red I gave up. I spoke to cust srv and said I was leaving for the iPhone saying I was tired of waiting for the Omnia 2. My contract has been up for a while. I told them if I could get any info confirming that the O2 would be coming out in the next month or two I would stay with Verizon. They responded saying they couldn’t tell me anything but they “hoped that it would be out in the next couple of months”.

She asked me what the iPhone had that a BB didn’t have…. I didn’t really know how to respond to that in 10 minutes or less so I didn’t.

After taking all of the above into consideration this is the decision that I made. I ordered two iPhones last night.

I am not saying the O2 isn’t a good phone. It is beautiful and the international GSM versions I have seen have been incredible, but the forward facing camera for video conferencing was a big thing for me and since Verizon will be removing that my decision was easier.

I have said plenty good about the O2 and if I knew when I could get my hands on it and just how tainted by verizon it was I may have stuck around. But it comes down to the fact that it has been several months since we heard about the O2 and we dont have any information about it. And, now that I am with ATT I will always have the option of getting an international unlocked GSM version of it in all of its forward facing camera glory.

Everyone can make their own decision. I have said plenty about both the iPhone and Omnia 2. Here it is again:

http://www.forcatech.com//2009/07/100-reasons-to-buy-an-iphone/

http://www.forcatech.com//tag/omnia-2/

When we first mentioned the Sept 9th conference and the rumors circling it the new Nano is not one that we brought up. Why? Mostly, I have no idea but alot of it had to do with the fact that I mostly just don’t care. For those of you who do here is what was announced:

• Video camera (640×480)
• NO STILL CAMERA
• Integrated mic
• Integrated speaker
• FM Radio!!!!! That you can pause!! And iTunes tag!
• One-click YouTube uploads (through your computer)
• Voice Over like Shuffle
• Pedometer with Nike+ syncing online
• Voice Recorder
• 2.2-inch screen(whoo hoo .2in bigger than the last)

The 8GB Nano is available today for $150 and the 16GB is available for $180. So if you are looking to get a Nano I don’t know why you would go with the 8GB as opposed to the 16GB. Some pretty cool upgrades for the Nano but seriously, no still camera?

The 3rd generation iPod touches were announced as well. The iPod Touch now comes in 8GB, 32GB and 64GB for $199, $299 and $399. The bigger storage is nice but our hopes and dreams were shattered when we heard that there was no camera and no mic in the new iTouch. The 32GB and 64Gb flavors do have a “50% faster processor” just like the iPhone 3GS. The graphics processor has also been updated to be OpenGL ES 2.0 capable–hence their push on the gaming market.

So why didn’t we see a camera and mic in the 3rd gen? We can’t be sure but here are some possible reasons:

• Not enough room – Anyone who has held a 2nd gen iTouch and compared it to the iPhone they know there is a big size difference. One part of that is the iPhone having the phone hardware in it but the camera also plays a big role in that. Us being camera/mic-less could simply be due to the fact that there wasn’t enough room

• Feature flow- The small iPod Nano now has a camera so why not put it in the iTouch? The iPhone has a relatively impressive camera for being a cell phone. If I were to get a 3rd gen iTouch I would expect the same quality–quality that the video camera in the Nano doesn’t have. The Nano camera is very cheap and wouldn’t flow in the larger iTouch.

• Manufacturing issues- This one is less likely. Some people have said they believe that Apple was planning on releasing the iTouch but during manufacturing they ran into some problems and decided last minute to leave it out. I could buy this if the iTouch wasn’t available TODAY but it is! If they had run into manufacturing issues they more than likely wouldn’t have made their deadline–which they did.

• Pricing- Apple wants a $199 iPod touch. Which they have–even if it is because the 8GB iTouch being offered is really the 2nd gen. If they were to add a camera to it the price most likely would have to be more than $199 in order to keep Apple’s margin at a reasonable level.

• Market control- Apple has had its eyes on the Flip which is available for less than $150. Apple wants to compete with the Flip and it will be impossible for Apple to make the iPod Touch that price and still make a reasonable profit margin.

• Consuming the iPhone market- One reason I was so excited for the Touch to have a camera and mic was so that I could use it like an iPhone when I was in Wi-Fi areas. Which is probably a big reason why Apple didn’t add these features to the Touch. If they did they could potentially take some of the market away from the iPhone–like me. For me, I would still eventually get an iPhone but it may keep me from making the plunge for longer than I would have otherwise.

• Evolution of a giant- In almost every market that Apple has products in they are the number one player–all other companies are clamoring to compete. As of now no other company has released a product that can compete. If you have the best products on the market why do your best when “good enough” is keeping you ahead of the pack? They may just be keeping a few “secret weapons”–Apple Tablet?–in case another company releases something that may steal some of their market.

The new shuffles are pretty cool. The tiny MP3 player is now more tiny and comes in 2GB and 4GB models. The shuffle is now just big enough to have a clip on it that will attach it to your shirt, etc. One of my gripes with the shuffle in the past has been the lack of any kind of screen so you have no idea who the artist is or what song is playing. Now, the shuffle has a VoiceOver option that will–in a wonderfully robotic voice–at the press of a button say the artist and track name. For an extra $20 you can get a polished stainless steel version as well to go with the polyester pants you wear to the gym.

The iPod classic hasn’t died yet. The 160GB is now available for $250.

iTunes 9 is now available as well. New features include:

• Home Sharing — This allows you to share your songs, movies and TV shows with up to 5 other computers on your local network. You can copy the files to the other computers or stream them over the network.
• iTunes LPs — Basically bonus CDs for digital albums. If you buy an entire album on iTunes you will now get the LP complete with extra songs that only you get, lyrics, photo albums as well as some video content and generally some live concerts.
• iTunes Extra — aka iTunes LPs. With iTunes Extra you get the equivalent to the “Bonus Features” disc when you buy a DVD.
• New Storefront — The store is now more intuitive and feels more like a piece of software you download rather than a bloated web page feel that it has had in the past.
• Updated Interface — For the most part no real improvements here. I think Apple just felt the need to put their hand in the code and wave it around a bit. The artists list and albums list now have their own columns to the left of the music as well as the artwork column. The silver header on iTunes is now a lighter gradient that kind of looks strange at first glance.
• App Manager — iPhone/Touch fans are now in luck. iTunes 9 has a new feature which allows you to rearrange the way apps are displayed on your device and can be dragged and dropped as well as synced.
• Palm Pre Blocked — With those of you who have been keeping up with the gauntlet to the death between Apple and Palm, iTunes 9–once again–has blocked the Pre from syncing with iTunes. Palms WebOS 1.2 will fix that though. And then Apple will come out with another update that will block the Pre again. And so on and so on, forever, until the end of the world–then, Palm will come out with another update.

Steve Jobs made an appearance which was exciting but still not enough to bring life to this disappointing conference.

As for the Apple Tablet, no hope for us in sight. Apple isn’t giving us any information or even acknowledging the rumors but we know in our hearts that there is something brewing at the Apple HQ.

So lets wrap it up.

iPod nano – Now has a video camera and FM radio, no still camera.

iPod Touch — No camera in sight, bigger storage options, no Mic.

Apple Tablet — Still just a figment of our imagination.

iPod Shuffle — Now smaller, new colors, VoiceOver

Steve Jobs – Still alive, or Apple has developed a very realistic cyborg–which not likely but possible.

iTunes 9 — Updated interface, media sharing, App manger, 1 point for Apple in the Pre vs. iTunes battle royale.

Well, the bad news is that the majority of you are going to have to continue to deal with what you have got. But, if you live in the Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, or Miami area then you are in luck.  AT&T has announced that  by the end of this year the HSPA 7.2 network will be up and running in those areas. They claim that by the end of 2010, 19 other major markets will have HSPA available and by the end of 2011 the remaining 3G footprint will be upgraded.

Some of you have probably already noticed the 3G+ symbol on your compatible device–such as the iPhone 3GS–meaning that you are already experiencing from the “7.2Mbps” network.

There is still good news for the rest of you. Because these 3G traffic areas are moving off the old 3G network many of you will probably notice improvements in your 3G network.

This may look like the command center of a giant space station but it is in fact my future basement the Global Network Operations Center for AT&T in NJ. This is where all of the magic is made. When you make a call, and you experience the 15 seconds of silence you may think means your phone isn’t connecting to the network, but what is really happening is the call has popped up on the main screen for the employees at AT&T to decide whether or not this call will be permitted to pass through.

Seriously though, AT&T is working on increasing their network. Between streaming music and videos, browsing the web, and downloading applications. iPhone users consume way more bandwidth than the standard smartphone user. This causes a real strain on the AT&T network, not just for data. Large cities are hit particularly hard during peak times when users are most likely to be on the phone texting, or using data.

Over the next year AT&T plans to spend the majority of their $18 billion budget on upgrading and expanding to meet the demands of the 3G network. They will also be erecting an additional 2,100 cell towers across the nation. Additional upgrades include adding fiber optic connectivity to increase the speed of data delivery.

In the more immediate future AT&T/Apple has announced that the long awaited iPhone MMS is due via a software upgrade on the 25th of this month, just a few weeks away. Now iPhone users can enjoy the luxury of snapping a photo or video (for 3GS users), and texting it to their friends.

Now when will we be seeing tethering?

With all the rumors swirling around about Apple products they are we are lucky we only have 7 days left to wait.

What will we be seeing this year? Apple tablets? Apple iPods with cameras? Death to the classic iPod?(notice the headphones in the image above are plugged into the bottom of the iPod like a Touch not on top like a Classic) Will we see MMS for the iPhone in the US?

All of these questions and more answered Sept 9.

TomTom software for the iPhone 3G and 3GS is now available in the App store. The down side to this is you will be spending $100USD for the US and Canada version which is just about $20 less than what you can find a dedicated GPS unit for.

It will make it convenient. You almost always have your phone with you so you won’t have to worry about forgetting the GPS or about it getting stolen out of your car.

The iPhone is even able to receive calls while being a GPS and simply cuts out your GPS audio while you are on the phone.

The downside of course is that if for any reason you need to use your iPhone you will lose your navigation momentarily, it will suck your battery and you are going to have to spend more money to get the windshield mount and other accessories that you may want which will put the cost of using your iPhone as a GPS solution at around $200.

I think I would wait for some more usage reviews before dropping the money personally but here is one review to get you started.

Rumors are buzzing all around the net about several different pieces of Apple news. One of the more reliable rumors bouncing around is that Apple will be hosting a keynote event for the week of September 7th. At this event the voices rumors say that Apple will be announcing some new products. This would follow the companies habit of releasing new iPods every fall.

The products that are to be announced are the new iPod touches which boast a camera, microphone and versions with 16, 32 and 64GB. These are rumored to be released for $199, $299 and $399.

More rumors include the notorious Apple Tablet that we have been hearing about. But, there are no solid rumors about that so we will just have to see. Hopefully more info will begin to leak out about the Apple Tablet such as what OS it will be running, hardware specs, will it have service through ATT or some other carrier?

An undisclosed source has said the following:

“The device, which I’ve held mock ups of, is going to have a 10 inch screen, and when I saw it looked just like a giant iPhone, with a black back— although that design could change at any time, with the same black resin back, and the familiar home button.”

“But it will come in two editions, one with a webcam and one for educational use.”

“The first prototype was built around the end of 2008. The time to market from first prototype is generally 6-9 months.”

Still just a rumor for now but a believable one. MultiChannel is saying that we could expect to see iPhone and iTouch apps allowing you to watch your Netflix movies and tv over Wi-Fi as well as on the Wii.

MultiChannel is presenting it as fact but we are hesitant to believe that this is all coming to fruition in the future.

Another void in our lives has been filled with the release of the 20 device iPod and iPhone dock by Parasync. Now you have the ability to connect 20 of your toys to your computer using only 1 USB port.

Not to worry those of you who don’t think 20 will be enough. There are two USB ports on this dock which allows you to daisy chain additional iPods and iPhones.

The Parasync dock is compatible with the iPod Classic, Nano G4, iPod Touch and iPhone. It is about the size of a package of printer paper measuring roughly 12 x 10 x 2.

Plug in all of your devices and pull up iTunes to view and manage all 20 of your devices.

The Google Voice iPhone app gave users the ability to use some advanced features of Google Voice right from their phone as well as call out using their Google Voice number. Earlier this week Apple/ATT disabled the App claiming that it imitated some of the functions of the iPhone.

Now the FCC is trying to find out why things happened the way they did. The FCC has sent letters to Apple, ATT and Google asking for details.

You can see those letters here at TechCruch.

ATT has been the first to respond saying that they have nothing to do with the App store and will “of course” respond to the FCC letter anyway.

AppleInsider–who over 2 years ago–exclusively announced that Apple would soon release a new jumbo 3G iTouch-esque touch screen device.

“AppleInsider has observed silently as the project was reset at least a half-dozen times over the past 24 months” which makes us wonder why we haven’t heard any updates about the status of this project. Now it sounds like they once again they information that–would lead them to believ–that the Apple tablet will be released early next year.

Hopefully this time the information is legit. Thousands of At least 3 people out there are still staying faithful to Apple when it comes to their touch screen devices and are in desperate need of an upgrade from their Apple Newton Messagepad:

The iPhone has been around for several years now but there are still many people who have not made the plunge. Some have been held back due to bad experiences with Cingular–which for the most part was a horrible carrier when the iPhone first came out. Some people have held off because of the high price tag on the phone or because they were afraid of making the move to 100% touch screen.

Whatever the reason the time has never been better to give the iPhone a try. The 3GS is out now which you can get for $199(8GB). You can pick up the 8Gb 3G iPhone for $99 or the refurb 3G for $79. These are the prices on the website. I am not sure if they are more expensive in the store but if they are it may be worth it to have the phone now now NOW!

As for the carrier. Since the switch to ATT and receiving exclusive rights to the iPhone the service has been much better. When speaking with friends pre-iPhone who were on the Cingular network it was a horrible experience. Constant dropped calls and poor quality. Today speaking with friends who have iPhones my Verizon cell phone is to blame more often than theirs for poor quality.

Many people are waiting for the iPhone to come to their provider. I say its not worth the wait. The CEO of ATT has admitted that the iPhone will not be exclusive forever but if a Verizon iPhone is in the works it is at least a year and a half out. At that point it will give Verizon 6 months to work out the kinks before your contract runs out and you can come running back should the service with ATT be less than to be desired.

Moving on. Here is the list of my Top 100 reasons to buy an iPhone today! Feel free to comment and let us know what you would add.

1. You can send emails with ‘Sent from my iPhone.’ in the footer.
2. Always have your ipod with you.
3. Is friendly with PCs and even more so with MACs.
4. The App Store–If you wish your iPhone could do something it doesn’t there is probably an application to do it already.
5. It is beautiful.
6. You will never have to worry about Apple blocking your ability to sync with iTunes
7. You can have it in any color you want as long as its white or black.
8. 3G browsing speed.
9. Stock application.
10. International support
11. They are very affordable now–less than some inferior smartphones with other providers.
12. The data plan has been reduced by $10.
13. Touch screen.
14. Unmatched fluid interface.
15. Enhanced conctact functions.
16. PUSH email.
17. PUSH calendar.
18. PUSH contacts.
19. Email management–mass move and delete.
20. Email attachments.
21. GPS.
22. Maps and directions.
23. Some third-party support without the need to jailbreak.
24. MobileMe support.
25. Track your iPhone online through MobileMe.
26. Push messages, alerts and lock down your iPhone from your MobileMe account if phone is lost or stolen.
27. Additional languages.
28. Scientific calculator.
29. Password protection.
30. YouTube channel.
31. WiFi (802.11b/g)
32. Cut, Copy and paste.
33. You will have more friends and be able to influence people.
34. iPhone instantly grants you +20 cool points.
35. …and +10 to your tech points.
36. Speaker phone.
37. Blue tooth 2.0 + EDR
38. 3.5-inch widescreen.
39. Multi-touch display.
40. Accelerometer.
41. 2 megapixel camera.
42. Photo geotagging.
43. 8,16 or 32GB Flash memory.
44. Proximity sensor.
45. AAC, Proteced AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible formats 2,3 and 4, Apple lossless, AIFF and WAV audio support.
46. Convenient volume controls on side of phone.
47. Ambient light sensor.
48. Sleep/wake hard button.
49. Ring/Silent side switch.
50. USB 2.0.
51. Speaker phone usable as a built in speaker for use without headphones.
52. 3.5-mm stereo headphone jack.
53. Quad-band GSM/EDGE.
54. 0.48 inches thick.
55. Weighs only 4.7 ounces.
56. It isn’t this
57. Lightsaber application.
58. Scare intruders with the gun cocking sound.
59. Fully sync’s with iTunes.
60. You can’t cut the cheese with it. (having the iPhone does not mean that you can’t cut the cheese)
61. You will have an iPhone.
62. Best/easiest to use touchscreen keyboard.
63. You can ask the question “will this work with my iPhone?” about any piece of technology.
64. Remotely monitor your webcam at home over 3G using third-party app.
65. It can be used to make phone calls.
66. Visual voicemail.
67. Motion sensing games.
68. Find new restaurants by shaking your iPhone using Urbanspoon.
69. Voice memos.
70. Spotlight search.
71. Tether your laptop and use your iPhones 3G internet.(coming soon)
72. Under $100 for the 3G 8GB iPhone.
73. Picture, video messages.(coming soon)
74. Stereo bluetooth–play music from your iPhone wirelessly to your bluetooth stereo speakers.
75. Parental controls.
76. Sync notes.
77. Login to your YouTube account to sync bookmarks and favorites.
78. Automatic Wi-Fi login.
79. Buy and download Movies.
80. Buy and download TV Shows.
81. Buy and download Audio Books.
82. Enhanced calendar.
83. Landscape keyboard.
84. Up to 30 hours of audio play back.
85. Up to 5 hours talk time on 3G.
86. Feature rich internet browsing.
87. Multi-touch screen resizing.
88. Made out of environmentally friendly materials.
89. Reliable.
90. Durable.
    iPhone 3GS specific:
91. 3 megapixel camera.
92. Auto focus.
93. Tap screen to change camera focus point.
94. Record video up to 30fps with audio.
95. Edit video right on your iPhone and upload to share with friends.
96. Voice controls.
97. Compass for improved navigation and applications.
98. Nike + iPod.
99. Accessibility options.
100. Up to 2X’s faster than iPhone 3G.

It is true. Gregory McKenna has filed suit against Apple claiming that they are in cahoots with the Mafia in an effort to force him to return to a New York based modeling agency that he left in 2000.

In his 124-page claim he tries to help us see how the iPod shuffle he bought on ebay in 2005 and an ipod mini he bought in an Apple store in 2006 have receivers in them that allow the Mafia to play audio death threats in sync with his music.

Of course this lawsuit–seeking $14.3 million–that incriminates a local mechanic, a private investigator, the St. Louis Police Department, the FBI, and the US Department of Justice is sure to never go through. Even as I am writing this the Mafia has probably already pumping audio files out to Gregory’s iPods telling him that if he doesn’t retract the lawsuit he will be “dealt with”.

First let me say I am not encouraging ANYONE to go swimming with their iPhone or strapping it to any fast moving air borne device. That being said enjoy:

I am guessing these guys are just recording the video to the phone but I am sure–if there aren’t already–we will start to see video streaming apps for the 3GS. All you would need then is a 2nd 3G device or another iPhone 3GS that you can use to control your plane from home and your command center–or Emperor workstation–would be complete. From your internet connection in your moms basement you could control and see what the plane saw and fly around the world–granted we are able to solve our energy concerns and we could create a Iron Man-like power source. I am going to keep my fingers crossed.