Apple have just updated the iPhone 3G to enable purchasing of music over wi-fi and NOW 3G as well, access to the iTunes Music Store has never been easier, and all iTunes music is now DRM-Free as well.

Pricing has changed somewhat, songs fall in to 3 categories of pricing structure, allowing for greater discounts on older songs.

On iPhone, you can access the iTunes Music Store over both mobile and Wi-Fi networks — and buy high-quality, DRM-free iTunes Plus songs. So no matter where you are, you can browse New Releases, What’s Hot and Genres.

iClarified report: Truphone today debuted the ability to make and receive Skype calls and instant messaging (IM) to the entire Skype user base from its iPhone and iPod touch applications. The service is scheduled to be available to all customers during the week of Jan. 12. This represents one more step toward making Truphone the open “all-in-one conversations hub” for iPhone and iPod touch users.

Truphone customers on both Apple devices can now reach their Skype friends via their Skype IDs. This further expands the universe of people with whom Truphone customers can stay in touch. Truphone-to-Skype communications are free over the Internet, and iPhone users can also place and receive Skype calls and messages when not in a Wi-Fi-accessible location for the cost of a local call, using the Truphone Anywhere feature. Separately, Truphone also announced today the availability of well-known instant-messaging services using the Truphone application on the iPod touch and the iPhone.

They’ve introduced full two-way instant messaging over MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger and Google Talk on the iPod touch and also announced that availability on the iPhone would begin the week of Jan. 12. Customers can also make and receive voice calls on Google Talk; calling functionality will be added to MSN Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger in the coming weeks. Truphone has also integrated Twitter into the TruFriends view so users can see what friends are talking about and post from within the Truphone application.

Yellowsn0w is here!!!

Thanks to the amazing efforts of the iPhone Dev Team, we are pleased to announce that a REAL unlock solution is now available for all iPhone 3G’s called Yellowsn0w.

Contrary to all advice and rumours in the past, this unlock will only work, if you have the LATEST version of the Modem Firmware 02.28.00. So you may need to update your iPhone to the latest software if you are not on the latest version, and then jailbreak it with QuickPwn first. However this is GREAT NEWS because it means EVERYONE can now unlock their iPhone to any network.

Now the games really begin…

• Cydia source: http://apt9.yellowsn0w.com/

*Yes, you will need to already have a jailbroken iPhone, you can jailbreak your iPhone with QuickPwn in literally 5 minutes with no dramas.

Things to note about Yellowsnow from iPhone Dev Team…

• The unlock works exclusively with baseband 02.28.00. This baseband is provided by the latest firmware update (2.2) from Apple. You’ll need to upgrade to this release using iTunes and then use QuickPwn to activate etc. There are plenty of tutorials about this on iclarified, bigboss, and other established tutorial sites. Because it works on 02.28.00, it is available to everyone on the planet. This means we don’t need to unnecessarily expose holes in earlier basebands, which is an important concern.
• The application is a small daemon that is launched on boot. It injects the payload at boot and also whenever there is a baseband reset. You won’t notice anything about it other than that your third-party sim now works. It’s a small program and unobtrusive. There is no GUI (this is by design).
• You can add the application using the sources outlined below (coming soon). There are Cydia and Installer sources available, so use whichever you are comfortable using.
• yellowsn0w is completely removable through Cydia, the command line, and iTunes.

iClarified reported today: In a research note today, Craig Berger, an analyst with Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co, said that Apple is working on a cheaper iPhone, possibly called the iPhone Nano.

Some call this device the iPhone nano,” Berger wrote in a research note. “Whatever one calls it, we believe this device is on its way. Berger also added a new, smaller version of the iPod Shuffle, and a Cheaper MacBook, However he does not believe it will qualify as a NetBook.

Berger added he’s also expecting “a new and smaller version of the iPod shuffle,” possibly in the middle of the first quarter and a cheaper MacBook notebook, although he noted, “We do not believe this PC will qualify as a netbook.” Berger doesn’t expect these devices to be ready for MacWorld Expo next week.

Wacklands is a nice little collection of fun games to keep your kids occupied during those long car journeys to visit grandma… Wackylands: Green contains 3 mini-games, Surfer’s Nightmare, Off with the UFI and Hop Hippo Hop.

Using multitouch to play all the mini-games, makes this game-pack, fun for kids and adults alike. The animation is extremely slick for such a ’small’ game, effort really has been put in to make these games as intuitive as possible. The music is fun and the graphics are smooth, and best of all gameplay is dangerously addictive. Overall, a nice little game and great value at only $2.49.

VERDICT: 92%

Get it on the iTunes App Store now

Gizmodo and Mat Brady have come up with this mockup and mailed it directly to The Steve. Whilst this is just a mockup right now, I would most definately prefer Apple to work on this, rather than release an iPhone Nano, but that’s just my personal preference. The glorious larger vibrant screen is just one of the things I love about the iPhone, to release a smaller version kind of defeats the purpose if you ask me… but hey… Apple seem to get it right… eventually.

OK, the rumour mill is in full effect now. Apple clearly have asked a few ‘key accessory’ manufacturers to ‘leak’ the new iPhone variant, just weeks before Apple’s Keynote Announcement. With the iPhone 3G now only $99, the iPhone Nano will need to have some seriously cool features to make people want to buy the cut down version. While the rumors around an iPhone nano have been considered speculation. This is the second case manufacturer to post about an upcoming iPhone nano.

Television is an app that lets you watch TV on your iPhone. Mobile software developer, Makayama, introduces new TV application, called Television, for Apple iPhone and iPod Touch. Will cost you $2.99 in the App Store, this app will allow you to download pre-recorded content from a number of TV networks.

This app has some limitations: the television is not “live”, requires Wi-Fi connection and does not work on a 3G network, all channels offered is already available for free on the web. However, Television keeps you informed when on the go. No need to download the content like podcasts in iTunes first, just watch it instantly. On-demand.

Get it from the iTunes App Store now

The top 10 paid for apps were:

Koi Pond (The Blimp Pilots)
Super Monkey Ball (SEGA)
Pocket Guitar (Shinya Kasatani)
allRadio (Jeremie Engel Engel)
iChalky (Eric Metois)
Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D (Vivendi)
Moto Chaser (Freeverse)
Texas Hold’em (Apple)
Cro-Mag Rally (Pangea)
Air Hockey (Acceleroto)

The top 10 free apps were:

iPint (Beattie McGuiness Bungay)
Google Earth (Google)
Labyrinth Lite Edition (Codify AB)
Tap Tap Revenge (Tapulous)
Flashlight (John Haney Software)
Facebook (Facebook)
Lightsaber Unleashed (TheMacBox)
Remote (Apple)
Touch Hockey: FS5 (FlipSide5)
Shazam (Shazam Entertainment)

AT&T’s further reductions in price leave us wondering just how cheap will the iPhone Nano be, if it actually gets released. In the meantime, this is great news for anyone looking to buy the full iPhone 3G at a discounted rate.

No one is really sure if iPhone Nano is even coming out, but those crafty little copycats seem to be peddling their wares throughout Thailand already. It certainly adds fuel to the iPhone Nano fire though!!!

Gizmodo reports: Why is this useful? It will give you the ability to run full Windows apps in your iPhone over the network. According to Citrix, you will have full Windows capability, including cut and paste inside Windows. And while this is not the first remote screen application available for the iPhone, it is the first one which is actually supported by a big company, which will make corporations happy.

Smudge Apps releases Remind Me application for your iPhone and iPod Touch. Every time you unlock your iPhone, you’ll find this note (that you can save as a wallpaper) is insanely useful. The app costs 99 cents in Apple’s App Store.

Remind me has six different backgrounds and eight different note styles. This app is great for shopping lists, reminders, to-do lists and notes to self.

Get it from the iTunes app store now

These super hot cases from Element Cases are now available for iPhone and iPhone 3G*, but will probably be availble for iPhone 3G very soon, however, at $99 they are a little on the expensive side.

The ALLOY cases are CNC-machined from high-strength aluminum alloy, with nickel-plated fasteners, a Delrin Polymeric bezel, and a tough Acrylic Flip-Lid. A very tough case that is beautiful and functional.? The BLACK ALLOY case has a dark black anodized aluminum finish.

You can customise your front and back, but personally, I’m not sure I like the idea of having to look through red perspex to see my iPhone… but still a very unique and strong case for all you hardcore iPhone Users!

VERDICT: 85%

Editors Note: These cases are available for both iPhone and iPhone 3G! Apologies for the error there!

USA TODAY has announced the availability of USA TODAY on the iTunes App Store.

“The USA TODAY application for iPhone and iPod touch is a great addition to our impressive suite of mobile products,” said Matt Jones, director of Mobile Strategy and Operations. “The incredible capabilities of these devices are a natural fit for USA TODAY’s rich mobile-ready content and mobile audience.”

USA TODAY’s application leverages the familiar look and feel that readers trust and expect from the USA TODAY brand; it provides access to the latest news stories, weather, photos and interactive polls. Easy to navigate, colorful and convenient, USA TODAY for iPhone offers the following features:

• Headlines — Browse and read stories from News, Money, Sports, Life, Tech and Travel. Articles can be shared via email, text message or Twitter, and are automatically saved for later reading.
• USA TODAY Snapshots(R) — Scan through USA TODAY Snapshots(R), and vote on an interactive poll question for each. Review responses from all users and filter the results by state and city.
• Scores — Review the latest sports scores for NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, college football and college basketball. College scores can be filtered down by conferences.
• Weather — Get current weather conditions, up-to-the minute regional radar and the five day forecast at your exact location via GPS. Review national weather maps including Doppler radar, temperature and precipitation forecasts.
• Photos — Flip through the day’s best images from news, sports, celebrities, science, travel and weather or play them back as a slideshow. Share favorite images with friends via email.

The USA TODAY application also features support for a variety of rich media mobile advertising executions including click-to-call, click-to-maps using the user’s GPS location and video. Campaigns can be targeted to the various sections such as News, Money, Sports, Life, Tech or Travel. The USA TODAY iPhone application was designed and developed in cooperation with Mercury Intermedia of Brentwood, Tenn.

It looks like the rumours are getting more and more believeable by the day. Exo case manufacturers seem to have ‘accidentally’ put these images on their website already. “whoops!”

I wonder if The Steve asked them to do that!

PocketLint report: The iPhone nano rumours are not going away, despite analyst’s predictions of no phone-related launches at Macworld, and adding fuel to the proverbial fire is a new, anonymously submitted image.

Sent in to Macrumours, the picture, that the blog is calling a “concept design” for the sake of argument, appears to be a photo of the nano phone, shown with a full size iPhone on a monitor or TV.

Macworld takes place in San Francisco in January, so we don’t have long to wait until we find out if this is the real deal, or one of the many Apple-themed hoaxes that do the rounds before big events.

…and here’s the proof you’ve been waiting for… In a few days the official unlock software will be released, so stay tuned.

iMobileCinema is a MobileSafari plugin which allows for playback of Flash (flv) video on the iPhone. You can watch videos from podcast sites or blogs with it; such as, Google Video, Youtube, and others.

A beta version of iMobileCinema has just been released for 2.x iPhones and can be installed via Cydia. You will need to add the d.imobilecinema.com source first. [iClarified]

iClarified reports: Synium Software today released their first game for iPhone and iPod touch. Motocross is an exciting racing game in the good tradition of arcade classics. In Motocross, the player controls a motorbike with the built-in motion sensor of iPhone and iPod touch, climbing steep montains, mastering fast-paced hillsides, and steering through deserts, jungle and picturesque suburbs. Shaky bridges and huge canyons have to be crossed with daring jumps and somersaults.

The iPhone’s accelerometer is used to shift the driver’s weight on the bike. Motocross racers will need fast reflexes to pass all these challenging tracks and master difficult situations with more than just speed! So, not ‘cruising straight ahead’ but rather jumping, flying and somersaulting through the various terrains shows who’s the real ‘Motocross Champion’. With the advent of Apple’s App Store, Synium already rolled out their popular iPhone apps ‘StuffRadar’ and ‘MobileFamillyTree’.

Motocross features:

• 16 stunning levels with varied landscapes
• 4 new levels every month
• Accelerometer-based control
• Breath-taking jumps and driving maneuvers
• Appealing background music

Pricing and Availability: Motocross is $3.99 (USD). Level updates are provided each month at no extra cost. Motocross is available from Apple’s App Store, either from within iTunes on every Mac/PC. You can also purchase directly using the built-in App Store on your iPhone or iPod touch.

The French Competition Counsel has ordered Apple to immediately end its exclusive relationship with France Telecom’s Orange and allow other local carriers to offer the iPhone to their subscribers, according to an AppleInsider report. On September 18th, France’s third largest mobile operator Bouygues Telecom filed a complaint with the regulator, arguing the deal between Apple and its larger rival violates local freedom of competition and pricing laws.

The ruling handed down this week is reportedly a temporary and precautionary measure while the counsel continues to investigate the merits of Bouygues’ claims.

Metal Gear Solid fans rejoice around the world…

Metal Gear Solid Touch is an original game in the series that will bring the world and characters of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots to the iPhone. The game is of the “touch shooting” genre and will use the iPhone’s touchscreen for targetting as well as zoom mode control. The initial release will feature eight stages, with more to come in future updates. Progress in the game will be rewarded by unlocked images and wallpaper from the Metal Gear series.

Metal Gear Solid Touch will be released in Japan, North America and Europe in Spring 2009.

Originally slate for END of December, SimCity for iPhone is now available on the iTunes App Store.

Expect a full review by the weekend. In the meantime, if you fancy downloading it, click here. Its $9.99

iphonebuzz reports: It looks like those in Taiwan who went out and picked up the iPhone 3G this weekend after the launch Saturday will be able to use just about any SIM they wish. Initial reports said that Chunghwa Telecom would be selling the iPhone 3G SIM-locked to their network.

Many users have found that as in other countries, there are no limitations in place for these iPhones. Whether or not this is an error in the firmware or not has yet to be determined. If it is indeed an error, Apple will fix it in a future update, but until then customers have the choice when it comes to a carrier. The only missing feature is with other SIM cards is CHT’s network-specific web services, which cannot be accessed with another carrier’s SIM.

CHT s currently selling the iPhone 3G without a contract at NT$26,600 (US$800) for the 8GB version and NT$29,900 ($901) for the 16GB version. There are discounts for those who sign a two-year agreement. CHT requires a refundable deposit of up to NT$24,000. If you add up the costs you would pay over two years with a locked AT&T iPhone 3G, it is more expensive than you would pay for the unlocked CHT version.

Target release date is NYE 2008.

Comments on their website:

We have been working hard on a few other things. The main one being the 3G unlock codenamed “yellowsn0w”. This is now completed and is currently being packaged into a user-friendly application with the simplicity that you see in QuickPwn or BootNeuter.

• The target release date for the unlock is New Year’s Eve 2008.
• This unlock method is available to iPhone 3Gs that have 2.11.07 baseband or earlier, we did warn you.
• You can tell what version baseband you have by going to Settings->General->About->Modem Firmware
• The unlock requires a jailbroken 3G iPhone. It’ll be installable via Cydia and so it doesn’t matter if you have a Mac or PC.
• Please refrain from updating your baseband, regardless of what version you’re at. We’ll have complete directions on New Year’s Eve.
• We’ll stream a live demo of the unlock before Christmas

Full Article here

iphonebuzz reports: It appears that much of the online world is accepting and adapting to Apple’s iPhone. Walmart is the latest to adapt their online store specifically for the iPhone. Just navigate to Walmart.com and you will be directed to an iPhone specific portal. The site is very much like the regular HTML version, just adapted for the much smaller touchscreen.

From the initial home page you can browse through products by category, current specials or even the list of approved $4 prescriptions. You can even create your own shopping list while physically shopping at the store for those items you have to wait for. Want to search the local store? Just pull out your phone and look to see if they have what you’re looking for for immediate pickup. Unfortunately you will have to visit the actual website to purchase an item. The Walmart web app is basically only for browsing products and getting information.

Rumours about SimCity for iPhone have been around for a while now, but after confirmation from multiple sources, we’re pleased to read Kotaku’s review after seeing SimCity for iPhone actually working.

“Whatever you do, though, don’t go thinking this is SimCity Lite. This mobile version is fully featured, with pre-builtcities, accountant recommendations, water pipes, natural disasters, etc. The works. [Pinching] in as close as you canon the 2D sprites reveals intricate details, such a smoke emitting from towers, or shading alongside the buildings. Overall, a really nice graphical presentation that compares similarly to SimCity 3000.”

SimCity for iPhone is out late December for iPhone and iPod Touch

iphonebuzz reports: Those of us who are still without the iPhone 3G can now put it on our Christmas List. No more waiting in line for someone to lookup your account info, just order and activate from your couch. It looks is if Walmart is not going to be able to sell as many as they had hoped if customers no longer need to leave their homes. Activating an iPhone from home is as simple as plugging it into iTunes and following a set of on-screen instructions. This only applies to those looking to sign a two-year agreement. Customers who wish to upgrade to the iPhone 3G sill need to go down to the store to purchase the device. We are still waiting to hear back on details regarding this offer.

After a plethora of complaints about 2.1 software, Optus has clearly decided to follow AT&T in proactively telling all iPhone users that they should upgrade. The interesting thing is that I didn’t buy my iPhone from Optus, and I’ve never told them that I’ve got an iPhone… Big Brother knows your every move!

ps. yes yes… my iPhone OS is totally jailbroken and pimped to the max… looks cool huh?!

We took delivery of our new little portable battery powered dock/speaker kit from Altec Lansing today. Usually we’d take some proper shots, but we were so impressed with the whole device, we just wanted to write about it straight away!

The dock which runs off AC power or battery was extremely pleasing to listen to given the compact size of the unit. Bass reproduction, whilst weaker than we like, was actually very good considering the thiness of the unit. Audio sounded the same on batteries and via AC power, and with a stated 48 hours of playback (!), this unit certainly is the traveller’s sound dock of choice. Whilst not officially stated to work with iPhone, it does work well. If you don’t want buzzing when you get a text or call, simply drop the iPhone in to Airplane Mode.

‘Aux in’ on the back, means this device can also double as a set of speakers for your PC or Mac or another MP3 player. Another nice touch with the $129 unit, is the inclusion of every plug socket adapter in the world. Something Apple should take heed of!

VERDICT: 90% (perfect for travelling music lovers)