The Demo Site

Triggering a "why the hell didn't I think of that?!" moment, Artmu has designed a laptop sleeve that, when unzipped and opened up completely, transforms into an effective mouse pad. Altogether now: Why didn't I think of that? [Aving]

Most standalone webcams are still trying to capture video at 3-megapixels, but Samsung's gone and pasted a 5-megapixel webcam on the 24-inch Scopia VC240 monitor. Now we can finally see topless Jesus in all his HD glory!

The Scopia webcam captures 720p video at 30fps with a bitrate of 2 megabits. It also supports V2oIP conferencing technology and uses h.264 compression. Obviously, this thing will never win any design awards, but considering this is an enterprise-oriented product and is far more powerful than any comparable product, I'm not sure Samsung cares.

As for actual monitor specs, the Scopia VC240 has 1920x1080p full HD resolution, 1000:1 contrast ratio, and a 170 degree viewing angle. It will also be available in the fall. Oh, did I mention it costs $2000. Well it does. [Only Gizmos]

According to AT&T, iPhone 3.0 users with qualified plans will be able to seamlessly switch from the 3G network to AT&T Wi-Fi hot spots automatically without being prompted for authentication first. [YouTube via Engadget]

Another day, another innovation from MIT researchers. This time, it's a camera built in the middle of a 25mm fiber sheet, which might be the coolest invention we will never use (save for an appearance in Splinter Cell 10).

MIT Tech Review says Noel Fink, the man responsible for the breakthrough, isn't even entirely sure what it could be used for, except for weaving it into clothing for some military reconnaissance. But the fact that it's designed to be foldable.

Researchers worked this magic by embedding 8 sensors in an arrangement around the center of the fiber sheet which allows it to detect light and color from various angles. Even better, the sensors can detect the angle at which light hits the fiber, which would make 3D imaging theoretically possible. (the MIT article goes into even greater depth as to how they pulled this off, but I'm trying to keep you awake). Anyways, cameraphones are so 2000s. In the '10s I want a goddamn camerasuit. [MIT Tech Review]

Starting tomorrow, subscribers to Sirius XM radio will be able to download the application on their iPhones for free.

As we previously speculated, others who don't already have a subscription will have to pay $3 a month, which isn't so bad considering the original subscription is around 20 bucks. [Yahoo]

It's the big question, isn't it? Sprint vs. AT&T, Palm vs. Apple, physical keys vs. solo touchscreen. Here are recent stories to help inform you about every aspect of both, so your eventual decision is intelligent, whichever one you choose.

Palm Pre Reviews
• Our review
• What other reviewers said
• 10 things you should know about the Pre

Known Pre Issues
• Tethering? Maybe not
• iTunes syncing could go away
• Hooray for homebrew!
• How's that reception?
• Screen scratchy? Heat distortion?

Apple iPhone 3GS Reviews
• Our Review
• What other reviewers are saying
• iPhone 3GS Complete Feature Guide

Known 3GS Issues
• 3GS-exclusive apps from the App Store; definitely better graphics for 3GS
• Tethering? Probably gonna cost extra
• Already jailbroken and SIM-unlocked
• What, no Verizon?

Stay tuned for more issues and revelations with the 3GS when the phone finally ships to customers, and people start the inevitable complaining.

What about the original $99 iPhone 3G? And while we're at it, what about the best BlackBerry and Android phones? Hey, that's why we wrote up the Smartphone Buyer's Guide: The Best of the Best. You can thank us later. Or now, below, in comments.

Last year we introduced you to the 5.11 Tactical Series UC3.400 flashlight claiming that it "might be the last torch you will ever need." Well, it's time to put that to the test.

The 5.11 shines at 90 lumens for 90 minutes per charge—and the manufacturers claim that it is rated for 50,000 recharges (or once per day for the next 135 years). In other words, the flashlight is rugged and produces a bright light for a practical amount of time. But the best part is that recharging only takes 90 seconds thanks to its fancy ultracapacitor energy storage system. It even has a backup 12V DC automotive charger in case the power goes out.

If it works as advertised, could very well be the last flashlight you will ever need (or, at least for the 10 year maintenance-free window). Whether it will pay for its $170 price tag in battery savings over that time remains to be seen. [5.11 Tactical via CNET]

This is certainly not a new image, but once you add the proper caption, the whole Wiimote bridging the generation gap concept gets a little bit disturbing. OK, it freaks me out almost as much as the JesusSwitch. [Thanks David]

I checked out the new Buzz Lightyear robot today, which is selling this Fall for $130-$150, and it proved that robot toys still have a bit to go before they're really awesome.

There's some cool stuff to this toy, to be sure. It has original Tim Allen voice work, which is nice, and it's obviously of solid construction. But it seems like its uses are pretty limited. Once your kid has said the dozen voice commands and has heard the quips and seen the motions, there's not a lot to keep them coming back. Sure, there's puppeteer mode that allows them to make their own sequence of motions, but it just doesn't scream "play with me."

But you can see where these things are going. In the next couple of decades kids toys are going to be real-deal robots that actually play back. But until then, we've got pseudo-robots that only respond to limited commands and are therefore not that fun.

Yes, not only it looks amazing at night but the full size Gundam protecting Tokyo right now actually moves, as this video shows. You can check all its details up close in these videos:

Gundam under construction

Gundam details

More perspectives

This newly-released image shows the sun rising over Spaceport America. It hasn't been built yet, but construction starts this Friday. It will be the beginning of the real future, the stuff dreams are made of.*

Spaceport America will be the first spaceport in history, and it will host commercial operations by private space travel companies, like Virgin Galactic.

I'm sure that—in a few centuries—this structure will be buried under multiple layers belonging to another huge structure: A giant spaceport—one of many in the world—in which massive spacecrafts will be lifting off and arriving from trips from the Moon, Mars, Titan, and Europa. Or at least, I hope that's what will happen.

If you are around, you can attend the historic groundbreaking ceremony—the first step in its construction—on Friday, June 19, 2009. Check the link for details. [Spaceport America]

* Apparently, the stuff dreams are made of look like vaginas from the air. Rubber vaginas.

You already know what we think, but now that you have had some time to play around with the new iPhone OS 3.0, what are your impressions on both its major features and the update overall?

Is 3.0 Any Faster?(online surveys)

How Is OS 3.0 In Terms Of Stability?(surveys)

How Are Push Notifications in OS 3.0?(online surveys)

How Do You Like Copy/Paste in OS 3.0?(answers)

How Is The Camera Performance in OS 3.0?(survey)

What Do You Think Of Spotlight Search?(survey)

How is Email Search in OS 3.0?(polls)

How is Stereo Bluetooth In OS 3.0?(survey software)

It's hard to go through all of the new features of course (especially since MMS, tethering and turn-by-turn directions are not quite there yet), but what do you think about the update overall?

What Do You Think Of The OS 3.0 Update Overall?(trends)

Did the OS 3.0 Update Completely Screw Up Your Phone?(surveys)

Presidential race loser and US Senator John Kerry (remember him?) has sent a note to the FCC basically asking why AT&T has an exclusive iPhone contract with Apple. Two years after its introduction? This horse is late to the race:

We ask that you examine this issue carefully and act expeditiously should you find that exclusivity agreements unfairly restrict consumer choice or adversely impact competition in the commercial wireless marketplace [...] Whether exclusivity agreements are becoming increasingly prevalent between dominant wireless carriers and handset manufacturers.

According to Ian Paul at PC World, the underwriters—Senator Kerry, Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.)—are mainly addressing the most successful smartphone out there in that note.

But why do this now? Only because the iPhone has been a raging success? Wasn't this as bad two or one year ago as it is today? And why is this an FCC concern? Why should the government make any company to do business or sell their products in a certain way? Maybe the reason is that Kerry has Verizon and he's pissed off he can't have the iPhone or the Pre (for now)?

I don't know about you, but as much as I would like to choose whatever carrier I want—you actually can, since you can buy the iPhone unlocked—this "concern" seems a a bit retarded to me. [PC World via Christian Science Monitor]

Wisely, Intel has decided to simplify their overly complex brand structure by boiling things down into three main categories: "entry-level (Intel Core i3), mid-level (Intel Core i5), and high-level (Intel Core i7)."

Intel spokesman Bill Calder notes:

...we are focusing our strategy around a primary 'hero' client brand which is Intel® Core™. Today the Intel Core brand has a mind boggling array of derivatives (such as Core™2 Duo and Core 2 Quad, etc). Over time those will go away and in its place will be a simplified family of Core processors spanning multiple levels: Intel® Core™ i3 processor, Intel® Core™ i5 processor, and Intel® Core™ i7 processors. Core i3 and Core i5 are new modifiers and join the previously announced Intel Core i7 to round out the family structure. It is important to note that these are not brands but modifiers to the Intel Core brand that signal different features and benefits. For example, upcoming processors such as Lynnfield (desktop) will carry the Intel Core brand, but will be available as either Intel Core i5 or Intel Core i7 depending upon the feature set and capability. Clarksfield (mobile) will have the Intel Core i7 name.

Pentium, Celeron and Atom aren't going anywhere, but for their premium Core brand, chips will be broken down into the three categories above. Calder also stated that this transition will take time—and probably won't be implemented fully until sometime in 2010. The new system is not all that great to be honest, but it least it officially confirms that mobile chips will be called Core i7. [Intel via ecoustics]

An immersive multitouch, multi-user "Touchwall" has been revealed... for trade conference attendees.

Billed as an "intelligent, multi-user Touchwall" the kit, made by Schematic, uses their previous multitouch panels to create a surface which can be used by multiple people.

It is being used for the first time at an advertising festival in Cannes, where it can recognize attendees by their RFID badges and offers them a personalized workspace wherever they happen to be standing. It also displays relevant info, such as 3D maps of where they need to go and features a built in social network element for users to leave each other messages.

But the special thing about the Touchwall is its multi-user capabilities where people can work side by side and even share information. [BoingBoingGadgets]

Interns Don and Johnny helped find these excellent deals for you to devour today, which include cheap movies, a wide range of LCD monitors, personal portables and, of course, free food. Thanks, interns.

Computers and Peripherals:
• Lenovo G530 Notebook with Pentium Dual Core Processor 2.16GHz and 15.4" WXGA TFT for $387 plus free shipping (normally $430 use coupon code USPLENOVO).
• Dell Core 2 Quad Desktop with 6GB RAM, 640GB HDD and 20" LCD for $699 (normally $1,019).
• 23.6" ASUS VH242H Widescreen LCD Monitor for $179.99 (normally $195.57).
• 22" Acer X223WBD Widescreen LCD Monitor for $139.99 plus free shipping (normally $168.00).
• 20" Dell S2009W Widescreen LCD Monitor for $89 plus free shipping (normally $159).
• 19" Acer X193Wb Widescreen LCD Monitor for $89.99 (normally $122).
• MSI Radeon HD4850 OC 512MB HDCP PCI-E Video Card for $58.99 (normally $128.99 - use this rebate form).
• 750GB AcomData PureDrive eSATA/USB 2.0 External Hard Drive for $59.99 plus free shipping (normally $79.99 - use this rebate form).

Gaming:
• Zoids Assault on Xbox 360 for $9.99 (normally $23.69).
• Disney High School Musical 3: Senior Year on Xbox 360 bundle for $7.94 (normally $25.90).
• Play Control! Mario Power Tennis on Wii for $19.98 (normally $23.24 - valid through 6/17).
• WWE Legends of Wrestlemania on Xbox 360 for $36.99 (normally $51.49).
• Soldier of Fortune: Payback on Xbox 360 for $9.99 (normally $22.69).
• Let's Golf on iPhone/Touch for $0.99 (normally $5.99).

Home Entertainment and Movies:
• 52" LG 52LG50 1080p LCD HDTV for $1,424.99 (normally $1598.99).
• 47" Vizio SV470XVT 1080p 120Hz LCD TV $999 plus free shipping (normally $1,299).
• 42" LG 42LGX Super Slim 1080p 120hz LCD TV for $999.99 plus free shipping (normally $1,500).
• 42" Westinghouse TX-42F430S-B LCD HDTV (refurbished) for $602 (normally $986).
• InFocus X9 High Definition DLP Projector for $579.99 (normally $1,030).
• Magnavox Blu-Ray Player (refurbished) for $99.99 (normally $149.99).
• Family Blu-ray 3-Pack (Alvin and the Chipmunks/Ice Age/Ice Age 2) for $39.49 (normally $69.99).
• Band of Brothers: Miniseries Collection on Blu-ray for $27.00 plus free shipping (normally $79.99 - use coupon code X8P4F9K). Deal expired, sorry!

Personal Portables:
• Maxtek MNT-7T 7'' Touchscreen Portable GPS Navigation System for $99.99 (normally $149.99).
• TODAY ONLY Panasonic High Definition Camcorder for $129.99 (Kohls CC Holders $90.99) (normally $279.99 - use coupon code FATHER30).
• Magellan Roadmate 1212 Portable GPS System (refurbished) for $70 plus free shippping (normally $124).
• Jabra BT2050 Bluetooth Headset for $12 plus free shipping (normally $26).
• iRobot Looj 120 Gutter Cleaning Robot for $30 plus free shipping (normally $70).
• Nokia N810 Portable Internet Tablet for $179.99 plus free shipping (normally $225).
• Pentax K20D 14.6MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm Lens for $669.98 (normally $779).
• Targus AWM02US Active Noise Cancellation Headphones for $19.95 (normally $44.50).

Hobomodo:
• 20 oz. Light Smoothie from Orange Julius for $0 (valid on 6/19 - use this coupon).
• Coldplay Live Album for $0.
• Dear Abby Heart Kit $0.
• Cellinique Sample for $0.
• Making Your Mind DVD for $0.
• Sample Packets of Emeril's Original Essence for $0.
• RAF Electronic Hardware Sampler Kit for $0.
• A&W Rootbeer Float for $0 (valid on 6/19 from 2-8PM only).
• Sample of Emeril's Original Essence for $0 (use this form).

If a deal looks too good to be true, investigate the store and see if it's a good, reputable place to buy. Safe shopping!

[Thanks TechDealDigger, Fat Wallet, DealNews, GamerHotline, SlickDeals, Cheap College Gamers, CheapStingyBargains and TechBargains.]

The iPhone 3GS is Apple's current mobile flagship, but most of us using iPhone 3Gs won't be paying for the upgrade. So instead, we get the new 3.0 firmware—not such a bad deal.

The free 3.0 upgrade ($10 for iPod touch users) is available today. Indeed, some of you have probably already downloaded it (and some of you have been downloading beta versions for months). Update: You may want to hold off a few days, as readers are already reporting problems due to the fact that everyone is trying to upgrade at the same time. iPhone OS 3.0 finishes many unpolished edges of the iPhone: Copy/Paste, obviously, but Spotlight Search, A2DP stereo Bluetooth, push notifications, and a long-requested landscape keyboard for text messages and email—a series of improvements that are less revolutionary than necessary to be part of the modern smartphone market.

It's sort of like the iPhone was always a pretty good looking guy, but then all these other good looking guys came around so the iPhone had to beef up a bit to keep his thousands of rich girlfriends paying too much at AT&T every month.

We're just going to walk through the new OS's features point by point rather than boring you with technological soliloquies. Here are the benefits—and liabilities—of iPhone 3.0:

Spotlight Search
From the mainscreen, a simple swipe to the left brings you to the new Spotlight Search. You see a searchbar on top and the keyboard automatically pops up so there's no waiting. Its speed? Fast. A few letters gets you a slew of results instantly that pair down as you type. It digs through emails, apps, contacts and music/movies, then click any option and you're linked right to it. (For instance, click a song and you start playing that song). Limitations? It won't look through the contents of third party apps, like your individual Tweets, nor will it search Maps, Weather or SMS. (Note: You can disable anything that you don't want to search in settings.) But even with a few limitations, Spotlight has far more breadth than the searches available on the Pre or Android. It's impressive.

Camera
There's no updating the low megapixel count of old iPhone camera hardware, but the new firmware has undoubtedly improved the experience of taking photos. While you still won't be taking shots in the dark, general lowlight performance feels greatly improved. Also notable: attaching multiple shots from your photo library to a single email is a wonderful, fluid experience.

Video
Good news for photos, but what about video? Sadly, Apple has chosen to save video functionality for the iPhone 3GS...even though jailbreaking the iPhone can provide existing users with video.

Stereo Bluetooth
The new A2DP stereo Bluetooth profile syncs easily and works without issues. We paired it with this iHome dock, and cranked it up. It sounded fine. And even if someone calls during streaming, no problem. It's just as smooth as when someone interrupts any iPod function.

Mail
Finally, users can not just download but search their email over IMAP. In practical terms, that means you can search for a keyword in your Gmail without opening Gmail in Safari—the old workaround if you couldn't find an email. On paper, that sounds perfect. In practice, it can lag a bit (mostly when over 3G), but it's functionally adequate. Also, if you search a keyword on the server, search something else and then search that first word again, your results will still be cached. But speaking of Gmail, where is our push Gmail? It debuted on Android and has since made its way to the Pre.

Calendar
Calendar's big upgrade is CalDAV support, a protocol that allows you to view/edit schedules in the cloud, like Google and Yahoo calendars. In my testing, it took about 20 seconds for Google calendar to update from my phone. It's about as fast as it can be without push.

Landscape Keyboard
SMS and Mail both get access to the long-desired landscape keyboard. And I must say, after trying them out, I never used them (intentionally) again. The real issue is that you just lose too much screen space. But hey, if it's your thing, I'm really happy for you.

Safari Autofill
The new Safari gets a small but convenient upgrade with Autofill, the ability to enter address/contact info into fields automatically. (Note: Autofill doesn't appear to turn on automatically, at least not if you don't have yourself saved in your address book.) When facing one of those dreaded pages full of contact info, you click the first field, click the "autofill" button on the keyboard and presto, the fields fill in like magic. However, if you're using it to pay for something online, you'll be on your own for credit card information.

Find My iPhone
If you're willing to pay $100 a year for MobileMe, one of the big perks is being able to stick it to the guy who steals your iPhone. Find My iPhone takes about 2 minutes to locate your phone on Google Maps (through MobileMe's web interface). At that point you can send an alert beep or an "Important Message," and can even and can deactivate it, or remotely wipe its contents. Of course, as Matt Buchanan explained in his earlier testing, there's a major flaw that will keep you from busting the criminal underground with the iPhone. Still, it seems pretty handy if you just dropped your phone in your friend's couch, or left it in a locale full of very honest patrons.

Voice Memos/Notes
Apple must have noticed the seemingly endless list and recording apps in their store, so they've appeased those of us who want to jot down a quick note with their Voice Memo and Notes apps. Voice Memo is a simple voice recorder that is really no better than any third party solution we've used (it's adequate for an interview in a pinch, but worse than most standalone mics). And Notes, while present in older versions of iPhone software, can now be synced to your computer (via USB).

Shake to Shuffle/Undo
It's either me or just that Apple hates me. But I find it very hard to change an iTunes song with a shake-induced shuffle. It's like I'm trying to break the neck of a kitten. But every time I drop the iPhone to my side after texting? The iPhone attempts to "undo" the message, which it can't since the message is already sent. Luckily, the iPod controls can be disabled. The "undo" command cannot.

Stocks
It's so great watching my devastated portfolio in the new landscape mode!

Copy/Paste
Many have already discussed Copy/Paste, but it would be impossible to review 3.0 without making a mention of Apple's response to the greatest gripe of their platform. Copy/Paste works. It's not as elegant as I'd hoped, given how long we've waited, but like I said, it works. Click a word/sentence, the magnifier comes up, unclick and you'll have the option to "copy." A bar on each side of the word can be stretched to include more text; copy, and you are set.

Stretching the boundaries of text can be a bit more difficult than the iPhone usually makes its touch inputs, but my bigger issue is that "copy" pops up almost all the time I'm working with text. Because of its implementation, every time you want to place a cursor anywhere other than the end of a sentence, you get the option to cut/copy/paste. Isn't that a bit overkill?

Speed/Stability
iPhone 3.0 software is adequately responsive. Apps open and close without too much of a fuss. Some people feel that it's a bit springier than the last 2.0 revision, but in our side-by-side testing, we found that it probably wasn't, and in many cases—like boot-up time—it's slower. Certain UI tweaks are added to make you feel like less time is being wasted, such as the implementation of a red exclamation mark next to outgoing, but as yet unsent, text messages. But some new features actually slow things down too: The animation tends to glitch when you pan from the Home screen over to Spotlight, and most of the time you click on a text field you'll be met with a similar brief delay.

Though these setbacks are minor, if you want that slick 1.0 feeling back, your target phone should be the iPhone 3GS because only accelerated hardware can really fix the performance deficit caused by the in-flow of all these third-party apps.

Stability? That's tough to judge, with most applications having just released their first updates for 3.0. But in terms of Apple's own apps, we've encountered occasional performance hiccups when emailing a photo or pulling up QWERTY in a text field. Nothing actually crashes, and it's certainly not noticeably less stable than earlier firmware versions, but you might sit there looking at a stuck screen once in a while.

Push Notifications
Maybe the biggest new feature in iPhone 3.0 is that apps can utilize push notifications. In other words, an app like AIM could pop up an instant message even if you weren't in that application. As you can imagine, there isn't a lot of third-party push content to test at the moment—possibly because Apple isn't approving background-notification-equipped apps until after 3.0 rolls out. So while we couldn't stack push apps to the sky to see how the iPhone could handle them, we did try Tap Tap Revenge 2.

But Tapulous, makers of the game, clearly has some profile syncing issues—as we found in testing and documented within forums online. That leaves us with developer clips that have leaked of the AIM beta, which can give you a look at how Push notifications should work. We'll update this post with more push notification impressions as they are available, and will be discussing it further in our iPhone 3.0 apps roundup.

What Didn't We Test?
Turn-by-turn directions, MMS, and tethering—these are all big features that we simply can't access at this time due to lack of app or carrier (cough, AT&T) support, but we'll be looking forward to trying out each of the features later. AT&T has confirmed MMS for late summer, but has not named a date for tethering availability at this time. (When it does come, it will undoubtedly come at additional monthly cost, and most of our readers are still pretty wishy-washy on whether or not they'd use it.)

With the new firmware, the iPhone's biceps have never been bigger. Spotlight Search is a powerful, industry-leading tool. And functions like Find My iPhone—for paying MobileMe subscribers only—will surely become standard practice in the mobile-connected world of the future. It's just a shame that most other improvements feel like defensive maneuvers rather than a true watershed software revolution—most of this stuff should have been here already. Now that the phone's critics should be mostly silenced, we're interested to see where Apple goes from here. Let me guess: Multitasking?

iPhone Firmware 3.0

Spotlight works wonderfully

It's free, so maybe we can't complain

Lots of little improvements

Really, lots of little improvements!

The OS is rarely snappy

Let's give those shake to do stuff gimmicks a rest

Additional reporting from Matt Buchanan and Jason Chen. Check out our guide, Everything You Need To Know About iPhone 3.0, for even more info and screenshots.

What's the point in buying a new iPhone if it looks exactly like the old one? Because once you start using it, the speed of the iPhone 3GS will amaze you.

There's a reason why Apple called this the iPhone 3GS for Speed and not the 3GC for "compass" or 3GV for "video recording." Speed is the central upgrade here, and probably is the single biggest reason you would upgrade to a 3GS from a 3G. And if you're coming in as a virgin iPhone user, there's definitely no question: The 3GS is worth an extra $100.

That declaration may be weird to most of us since we usually look for features, and not specs, when we're evaluating phones—and iPhone 3GS doesn't blow us out in the feature department. Instead, it's like getting a bigger TV or a faster car. Your old machine works just fine, but once you've tried the new one for a week, you'll never want to go back, even if it costs you a little extra.

Like we said, from the outside the 3GS is exactly the same as the 3G. It's slightly heavier and has glossy text on the back, but if Steve Jobs whipped one out in public before it was announced, you wouldn't have been able to tell the difference.

By holding the 3GS next to the 3G, you'll notice that the screen is slightly more reflective because of the new fingerprint resistant oleophobic coating. It even has a little bit of a rainbow effect if you reflect a monitor with it. Surprisingly, the coating actually works in preventing a good deal of fingerprints and face grease, and it allows the phone to still be smooth and usable even if there are fingerprints on the surface.

The shot above illustrates the fact. The two phones may look similar in how much finger and face grease are on the screen, but the iPhone 3GS is still usable and doesn't have the problem of "sticking" in certain areas that are slightly greasier. It's also easier to clean just by wiping on your shirt. The glass treatment won't eliminate smudging from your bodily secretions altogether, but it's a very useful improvement for something you're touching all the time.

The 3GS display is ever-so-slightly warmer than the 3G's, having a yellow/orangish tint when viewed side by side. If you remember, the 3G's screen was also warmer than the 2G's. It's not distracting in any way, and the warm screen is slightly easier on your eyes even if the brightness is bumped up high.

The video really shows how fast the iPhone 3GS is. Safari, Email, Camera all load noticeably faster than on the iPhone 3G (both running 3.0 software). Even booting the phone takes about half the time. Apps with long load times, like Sims 3, Oregon Trail or Metal Gear Touch all show how much faster you get up and running on the new device. Seriously, everything is faster. It's exactly the same experience as switching from a two- or three-year-old computer to something brand new. Your apps all look the same, but they load and run much more smoothly. Even if you're doing the same things on both machines, the new machine is that much better to work on.

What does this speed increase mean for future iPhone apps and games? With the iPhone 3GS running on a 600MHz CPU with 256MB RAM (up from 400MHz and 128MB), there's a much higher performance ceiling for apps to hit. The OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics standard that's now supported paves the way for an impressive visual boost. Hubert (a former Nvidia developer) from Ubergizmo says it's somewhere along the lines of going from Half Life 1 to Half Life 2, which is essentially going up a console generation. Gamers should pay attention.

Like we said before, the iPhone 3G will still run most of the games for the near future. That 40 million unit potential market of iPhone/iPod Touch devices is too big to just ignore and put out an app just for 3GS phones, so your old phone will still be able to keep up. But developers are like alcoholics. If you put more system resources in front of them, they can't help but use all of it just because they can. Also, they drink a lot.

Apple hates to emphasize specs in products like the iPhone 3GS, but even they couldn't resist bragging about the speed boost. That S is there for a reason.

The 3GS also has a 3-megapixel camera, adding auto focus and video recording. You even get an interface that lets you tap on a section of the screen that you want to focus on and the phone will automatically adjust the focus to that point in space.

By tapping on the screen and activating the auto-everything—not just auto focus but improved auto exposure and auto white balance—you're gaining the ability to control more of what your shots look like. It's most obvious in macro shots where the subject is only a few inches away (above). Those two photos were shot from the exact same distance in the exact same lighting. You can also see in the gallery below that the 3GS is slightly better in low-light conditions (something the 3G was no good at), as well as having better overall auto white balance.

I wouldn't say it's a mindblowing revolutionary step for the iPhone camera, but it's definitely more than just shoving in more megapixels and leaving it at that.

The video quality, on the other hand, is pretty good for a cellphone. Apple claims up to 30 frames per second, and as this video of an HD recording of SNL shows, it comes pretty damn close. Even if it's not quite 30FPS at all times, the video is smooth as hell. Recording still isn't great in low light since it's a physical limitation of cameras in general, but at least it's fluid. The tap-to-focus (and re-expose) feature also carries over to video, which you can use to "aim" your camera at a part of the scene.

You'll also want to use the quick trimming feature before you upload your videos directly to YouTube to cut out the excess at the front and back of your clips. The quick trim is just like trimming a clip in iMovie, with the yellow draggable borders. Apple says that the 3G doesn't have video because the old processor isn't capable of handling it, and after taking the 30FPS videos on the 3GS, we can believe that they didn't want to settle for just 15FPS videos.

Data hogs will also be happy about the increased 7.2Mbps data speeds the 3GS can achieve. We used the Speedtest app in the App Store and over multiple days and multiple times (early, mid-day and late at night), clocked the 3GS at an average of 1568Kbps, whereas the 3G only measured 1165Kbps. Their uploads were relatively equal, at 226Kbps (3GS) and 209Kbps (3G), but there was a noticeable difference in latency with the 3GS pulling ahead at 174ms to the 3G's 231ms. Although on average the 3GS scored about 50% higher than the 3G, occasionally, in individual runs, it could have ranged anywhere from twice as fast to about the same speeds.

The speed boost for downloads is interesting, seeing as AT&T hasn't even begun to really roll out their 7.2 HSPA in very many places yet. Since we're testing this before the actual 3GS release date, we'll see how much loads of 3GS users will impact overall speeds, and we'll see how fast the 3GS speeds increase once AT&T has the infrastructure to support it.

If you're talking practical use scenarios right now, the increased network speeds and the increased processing speeds help to cut down wait times for both the email and Safari and whatever other app you use that grabs a bunch of data often. Even if you're on Wi-Fi, the fact that there's a faster processor on board mean that you're going to be done faster than on the 3G.

The compass app, along with the magnetometer, is great at pointing you somewhere in the general direction of North. It also doesn't matter which way you're holding the phone—either parallel or perpendicular to the ground—the arrow and numbers will still more or less give you a sense of where you're facing.

As a bonus, if you hit the "find me" button in Google Maps a second time after it's located your GPS position, it'll re-orient your map to reflect the way you're facing. It would have been extremely useful when I was on foot, lost in San Francisco trying catch the last train, not knowing which way was which since the street signs are so small and the blocks are so large. If I had this, I wouldn't have to have gone a block in the wrong direction just to figure out I should have been heading the other way.

The compass may not sound like a great feature, but apps like Layar, an augmented reality browser, are now capable of running on the 3GS with the help of the magnetometer and GPS.

Nike+ support is something that I've been looking forward to for a long time—so much so that I even bought an iPod Touch 2G to use it. Well, it's here, and it works. The app is exactly like the one on the 2G Touch, and enables you all the running features you're accustomed to using on any other Nike+ device. What's nice about using your phone when running is that you always have your phone with you, and if you have a stereo Bluetooth headset, you'll be able to listen to music, run and answer a call if need be.

Voice control actually works. As long as you know the right commands, like "call" for calling someone on your contact list and "dial" if you want to dial a number. The accuracy is quite high, and the app can recognize what you're saying as long as there's not too much background noise. It's also fairly smart. If you say "call Mike" and you have multiple Mikes in your list, the iPhone will say the names of all your Mikes and ask you to be more specific.

The song control works, but gets confused occasionally because bands have weird names that aren't exactly English—they just share the same letters. The iPhone kept confusing "Phoenix" with "INXS" or "DMX", for example, but managed to actually get commands like "pause music", "who is this song by", "previous track" "what song is playing?", "shuffle" and "play more like this" correct. And if you're worried about figuring out what to say to control your phone, just activate the Voice Control function and watch the screen; eventually the command you want will come floating by in the background.

What's also surprising about the 3GS is that you wouldn't expect battery life to be improved, but it is. Apple's figures that measured improvement over the 3G in every category except 3G calling were more or less what we found in our own testing, which means you should be able to last the entire day on one charge with no problems. Plus, since the phone is faster, you'll probably spend less time looking up directions or getting to a restaurant's web page—which also saves battery.

The iPhone 3GS is not an insignificant step forward in the iPhone family. The Nike+ support, magnetometer (compass), video recording, voice command, better camera, better battery life and faster data network are all improvements nobody would call a step backwards. But the biggest day-to-day improvement over the 3G is undoubtedly the increased processing speed, which is why Apple called this phone the 3GS (with the S standing for super fast) in order to designate that it's basically the 3G, but better.

3G users have the unfortunate question of asking themselves whether or not they want to spend the $399/$499 to upgrade to the 3GS right now. If you're eligible to upgrade in July, August or September, AT&T's letting you do so at the full subsidized $199/$299 price. If not, you'll have to wait until your 18 months are up. It's definitely a better phone, but AT&T's plan of making early adopters wait another six months from now until they can get the standard $199/$299 price is frustrating, since we'll already be halfway into the iPhone 3GS lifecycle. And by then, it'll be worth waiting until June 2010 for a true revolutionary jump in iPhone design, instead of just an evolutionary improvement on the 3G.

Our first generation iPhone review verdict was to wait. Our iPhone 3G review gave the go-ahead to finally mount up. The only issue with the iPhone 3GS, if you already have the 3G, is that it's not all that different of an experience.

Like I said in the Palm Pre review, I'm a bit bored of the iPhone look and feel. If you're looking for something new, something different and something you're not quite familiar with, there's the Pre or the MyTouch 3G. But as a whole, the iPhone 3GS is the best all-around smartphone available. If you're looking for a refined, augmented version of what you already know, a phone that, not for nothing, runs all the tens of thousands of apps on the App Store, choose the iPhone 3GS. [Apple]

It's quite a bit faster than the 3G

Hardware additions like better camera, magnetometer (compass) and fingerprint-resistant screen are a nice touch

Same size and shape as the 3G, so your accessories will all still work

Current upgrade pricing for AT&T for most iPhone 3G users is steep if you're not eligible

If you're an AT&T customer that isn't eligible for a phone upgrade yet, but will be eligible in July, August or September, good news. You're eligible starting Friday, June 19.

AT&T's just loosened the restrictions in order to allow people to who are on the verge of being able to upgrade to do so now. If you're like most people who upgraded to the 3G last year at launch, you'll have to check your eligibility online to see if you qualify. If it doesn't fall within those three months, you'll have to wait until whatever date it says on your account.

We just got a load of tips from readers that the iPhone 3.0 update is sending their iPhone 3Gs into an unrecoverable mode where the activation process won't complete.

The message above is the one iTunes spits out if you're one of the unlucky ones—like our own Andi—that can't complete the upgrade. The phone itself is locked and can only make emergency calls, which is what happens when you can't authenticate your phone with iTunes.

It seems like it's just the activation server is acting up, which means you should just hold on until it comes back online. [Thanks tipsters! (You poor bastards.)]

Update: Reader Phil has a tip that fixed the update for him:

In any event, I found a fix online and I thought you'd like to know that there's an issue with iTunes and IE (go figure, huh?). Not much on Google right now, but the error I received after the upgrade was completed was -9808 when contacting the iTunes store. The fix is to go into Internet Explorer, go to advanced options, scroll down to security and UNCHECK "Check for server certificate revocation". Restart iTunes and close IE and you should be fine. My iPhone was stuck on the connect to iTunes screen for forever. After changing that option, I was able to finish the installation and the iPhone rebooted itself and displayed the activation pop-up or whatever you want to call it.

Give that a shot if yours doesn't work. [Thanks Phil!]

Update 2: Looks like Andi's phone is back in business. All she had to do was to connect her phone a couple more times and eventually her device got authenticated. So keep trying that if you're still having trouble.

As expected, the new iPhone OS 3.0 is out. You can click on the "Check for Update" button right now to get your iPhone updated. If you used the pirated 3.0 golden master, this update is exactly the same:

Just to let you guys know, the MD5 hashes for the newly updated firmwares are identical to those of the golden master builds distributed last week. Therefore, people with the GM build won't need to upgrade [in fact, iTunes won't let you because you are up to date] as they already have this file.

Note: If you have installed the Golden Master, you don't need to install this update because it's exactly the same file, byte by byte. That's why iTunes is saying your iPhone is up to date.

When you are done, tell us your impressions. Do you find it faster when opening and closing applications? Does the typing feel more fluid? Do any of your applications need updates to work right? Please write your answers in the comments.

P.S. Hmmmm... COPY AND PASTE IS HERE AT LAST!

[Thanks traviscat for the heads up and crazylikeastraw for the MD5 hash comparison]

Update: Might want to hold off on the update for a little while, at least until the authentication server mess is fixed.

The Obama administration is in favor of repealing a 1989 law that asked to tax people for using their work cellphones for personal calls. A turn of events after last week, when the IRS said they wanted to enforce it.

Of course, the law was dumb nowadays and almost impossible to enforce, as Douglas Shulman—Internal Revenue Service Commissioner—puts it:

[Treasury] Secretary [Timothy] Geithner and I ask that Congress act to make clear that there will be no tax consequence to employers or employees for personal use of work-related devices such as cellphones provided by employers. The passage of time, advances in technology, and the nature of communication in the modern workplace have rendered this law obsolete.

True. And even while nobody was complying with this law, thank you Mr Shulman, Mr Geithner, and Mr Obama, for wanting to repeal such stupid laws. [PC Magazine and WSJ]

Bang-yao Liu made this pretty stop-motion post-it animation for his senior project at Savannah College of Art and Design, displaying all things computer and gamey. He gets extra points for using Röyksopp's Eple as the soundtrack. [Thanks Omar]

It's not just a sleeveless tee. It's Man's last hope in a battle for life, liberty and justice.

Hero Vests, $20, capture the essence of Hollywood's most memorable badasses—Bruce Lee's claw marks from "Enter the Dragon", Bruce Willis' NYPD getup from "Die Hard", and Sylvester Stallone's infinite bullet sash from "First Blood".

We're a little disappointed that no one has produced a matching set of John McClane broken glass shoes or a complimentary "Now I have a machine gun. Ho-Ho-Ho" sweater. I guess we'll just have to wait for next season's fashions before wiping out terrorism once and for all. [Red5 via FashionablyGeek]

Indeed, "Red" would undoubtedly approve of this 360 mod by Frank Gonzales. Designed to look like the Right Hand of Doom, this crusty case looks like it could deliver a serious beatdown.

As a fan of the comics and the movies, I definitely dig Gonzales' work. Speaking of that, his Gears of War mod wasn't half bad either. [Joystiq via Kotaku]

I know this comic is meant to be little more than a tongue-in-cheek look at the corporate green package movement, but I really would eat an iPhone-bundled tortilla. Con frijoles, even. [Lunchbreath via Core77]

I was really excited about the beeeuteeefuuul Olympus E-P1, thinking it was going to be more or less small. After watching these scantly dressed girls playfully groping it on video, I'm not so convinced anymore.

Maybe it looks big because they have small hands, but it doesn't look like. And despite the nice film-emulation filters, it can only take seven minutes of 720p video, no matter how big is your flash memory card. Still, check the gallery. Aesthetically, it's retrolicious. Especially with the flash or the viewfinder on. [Engadget China]

A couple months ago, a Major League Baseball spokeperson hinted that live video streaming—one of the vaunted promises of iPhone 3.0—could make its way to the league's $10 At Bat app. Tomorrow, they're making good on their tease.

Set to be updated immediately after the firmware 3.0 release, the app will stream out-of-market games (no locals, sadly) at a rate of one or two a day. The thing that'll set At Bat apart from existing video apps by CBS (and others) will be its ability to stream over 3G, without apparent limitations.

This is bigger news than it sounds, and not just for people who like baseball. For MLB to ship—and more importantly for AT&T and Apple to allow—an over-the-air streaming app paves the way for more general TV apps for the iPhone. It's weirdly shocking to actually see, even if we were told to expect it.

If you do care about baseball, here's your opening schedule for tomorrow, in manly-man military time: Chicago Cubs/White Sox at 14:20 EST, and the Detroit Tigers/St Louis Cardinals game at 20:15. [BusinessWeek]

We knew about Ahmadinejad's crappy Photoshop skills before. This photo—cloning supporters to make a bigger crowd—is just confirmation that he and his minions are a bunch of morons. [Kheirkhah via Boing Boing]

TweetDeck for iPhone does what I thought was practically impossible: perfectly replicates the powerful column experience of the desktop TweetDeck on the iPhone, and in a surprisingly usable and snappy way.

In a way, performance is actually the most impressive thing about it. Running 4-5 columns, the app responds instantly as you fluidly move from column to column, from tweet to profiles, from account to account. It's running all of these columns simultaneously while constantly pulling updates and alerting you to them—in the form of little popups telling you how many bleep bloops are waiting for you to read them. Around six columns, a hint of slowness starts to creep in, but it's not killer. The only other performance ding is that we had 2 crashes in 30 minutes.

The reason the UI works so well is what it translates the column interface from TweetDeck into a windowed one—they look and work exactly the same as Mobile Safari's multiple windows (faux tabs, or cards, a la Palm Pre, if you're so inclined). You can swipe from column to column or use gratuitous little arrows when it's in full screen, or pop back out to the window view to flick from mentions to a running search instantly. It's really easy to add new columns too—just press the dead-center "add column" to tack-on a running search or to create a new group. You can set how often new columns refresh, and how they're ordered.

For all of the excellent work in nailing the core ideas, there are a few little annoyances—the pointless arrows for moving to a different column, two different buttons to pop into window view, the constant sounds that respond to almost everything you do (thankfully, they can be turned off). You can turn off update pop-ups as well—they appear in at least two different ways, in a notifier box with a badge showing how many updates you have to check out, and as literal pop-ups. The latter seem like overkill, since the notifier box already neatly balances keeping you aware without bothering you.

It's not as elegant as Tweetie, but it's designed to do something different—TweetDeck's arguably now the most powerful iPhone Twitter app in terms of the amount of information it's able to pull in and organize and make instantly accessible. It syncs to the desktop version of TweetDeck, which makes it even stronger in that regard. It's free, and as the most exciting iPhone Twitter app since Tweetie, definitely worth checking out. [iTunes]

According to Mary RunwayGirl Kirby—I call her Freckles myself—you will be able to use Panasonic's new iPod Merge inflight entertainment system to access your digital camera photos and fully access your iPod as early as this fall.

According to Panasonic, iPod merge is not just a connector for the iPod, but gives you full access to your iPod multimedia content—including music and images—using a dedicated user interface integrated in their inflight entertainment system:

Panasonic's technology roadmap calls for introduction of iPod merge, which goes a step further then basic iPod connectivity by allowing content metadata to be integrated or "consumed" into the graphical user interface (GUI) and displayed to the passenger via the IFE screen.

As you can see in the image, it also connects to digital cameras via USB, allowing you to extend your vacation a little more by seeing your fresh pictures on your way back home, and providing the rest of the passengers with hours of laughter and entertainment. [Runway Girl]

Casio's Super SlimLine DLP projectors have always been trim, but now the XJ-S43W gets a bit more appealing with widescreen support and a lower price.

While Casio's projectors, just 4lbs and 1.7 inches thick at their widest point, actually have decent specs, they've traditionally started well over $1,000 and made their way into the 2s. Now the XJ-S43W is priced at $999, plus it adds WXGA (1280 × 800) widescreen—making the data projector ever so more entertainment friendly in your company's off hours.

Other specs include 2500 lumens, 1800:1 contrast, 2X zoom and HDMI in.

While pico projectors are on the rise (with subpar picture quality), Casio brags that their Super Slims are still the thinnest 2,0000-lumen projectors in the industry...which must be why the creepy hand wants to mate with one in our lead photo. [Casio Super Slim]

The WSJ is reporting that DirecTV has conscripted the talents of software startup Invidi to show targeted—meaning local—ads to its customers, starting in 2011.

DirecTV currently only sends out two feeds—one to the east coast, one to the west—which each broadcast uniform content and advertising across their various markets. For advertisers with limited reach, this is wasteful; likewise, for viewers, this can mean annoyingly irrelevant ads.

More often than not, though, it just means that local or regional advertisers don't even bother with DirecTV, which is bad for its business, and most importantly deprives its customers of the crucial information they need to choose the right repossessed furniture dealership. [WSJ]

Exploring Tokyo by foot is a must-do trip, but it can't match the experience of viewing the city in stop-motion tilt-shift photography. The streets become one huge playset.

Really just advertisement for Uniqlo—sort of Japan's Gap—you'll quickly forget any corporate affiliation as the virtual calendar layers the hypnotic music of Fantastic Plastic Machine behind the even more entrancing Tokyo imagery. Of course, little do you know, Uniqlo is abusing your mind's temporary complacency, planting commands to learn Japanese, visit Tokyo, consume shabu-shabu and then, maybe, buy a new shirt or two.

Still, we could do worse. [Uniqlo Video via Pink Tentacle via Tokyo Mango]

Firefox has quietly seeded a Firefox 3.5 release candidate to beta users through the browser's automatic update function, and posted it for download here. This version should be nearly identical to the final release, which Mozilla says is due " around the end of the month." [CNET via Pocket-Lint—Thanks, JJ!]

The first samples of HD video shot with the Olympus E-P1 have made it online, and it certainly looks like this camera has some skills.

DPReview has posted a selection of 14 clips (not embeddable), putting the sexy rangefinder-esque camera through its paces, in a selection of shooting conditions. They used a Panasonic 14-140mm lens on the Micro Four Thirds cam and shot most of the 720p footage in Aperture Priority mode.

First impressions are that the E-P1 could give some of the HD-shooting DSLRs a run for their money, especially once you put some better glass on it, since these were shot using the 14-140mm kit Lens from the Panasonic GH1. [DPReview]

There have been some rumblings that iPhone OS 3.0, scheduled for release today, is actually coming out tomorrow. Don't panic! It'll still come out midday today, so long as you don't live in East Asia.

The confusion can be traced to Apple's Singapore site, which clearly sets the release for tomorrow. Thing is, Singapore is 13 hours ahead EST, and a full 16 hours ahead of PST. In other words, if firmware 3.0 shows up at noon in NY, it'll be showing up tomorrow in Singapore, Japan, Australia, etc.

So, since Apple's American site still shows the expected June 17th release date, that means we probably won't see firmware propagate through iTunes until noon or after, EST. There is a 3.0 image hosted on Apple's servers, but it's apparently for the 3GS exclusively, which isn't much help to anyone: it won't work on your iPhone 3G, and if you somehow already have your 3GS, then, well, you've also got 3.0.

More on iPhone OS 3.0 here.

UPDATE: Reader Chris has coded together a clever little script that monitors Apple's download servers. If you feel the need to refresh something all day, make it this. [TechCrunch, Register—Thanks, Kirk and Julie!]

Palm has hit back at Apple's thinly veiled threats that the Pre's iTunes syncing ability could go the way of the Dodo with newer versions of the software.

Fanning the flames as they spoke to AllThingsDigital, a spokesperson for Palm said that if Apple disabled media sync in a future version of iTunes, it would be "a direct blow to their users." Palm has already said that they see the Pre's direct syncing ability as beneficial to iTunes users who want to use media they own wherever, and however, they want.

The Palm spokesperson added that Pre owners could always stick with the current version of iTunes, use USB transfer, and that there were "other third-party applications" Palm could consider. [AllThingsDigital]

You've ordered the iPhone 3GS, Apple has shipped it, and UPS has picked it up and even taken it to your local branch... but that doesn't mean you will be getting your hands on that 3GS goodness just yet.

It looks like Apple has unsurprisingly told UPS not to jump the gun by delivering the iPhone 3GS ahead of its official release date.

People who ordered on the Apple Store have started receiving information that their packages are being held frustratingly close to their houses, but will not be making that final leg of the journey until a "future delivery date," presumably meaning the 19th. Oddly the package progress info seem to be saying the "receiver" requested the "hold for a future delivery date" though I can't imagine too many of you would have done that. [Thanks, Matthew!]

10-inch, Atom-based netbooks tend to blend together in the mind, as they all have similar specs and similar designs. But when you can boast an insane 8.5 hour battery life in real-world conditions, we sit up and take notice.

Laptop Mag took a gander at Toshiba's NB205 netbook and found an awful lot to be happy about. The netbook, which boasts the same specs as every other 10-inch netbook out there (1.66GHz Atom, 160GB hard drive, 1GB RAM, Windows XP) seems to really bring it in the non-component hardware department, with a stellar keyboard and thankfully normal-human-sized trackpad along with an LED-backlit display and, of course, that crazy 6-cell battery. They managed to eke out 8 hours and 33 minutes of real time battery life, which means continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi. That's far and away the best battery life we've seen on this category of netbook, and with its above-average performance, it definitely looks like a mini-laptop worth your attention if you're in the market for a 10-incher. [Laptop Mag]

If you were wondering how the Zune HD could pack in such iPod touch-beating smoothness into such a small size, we might have an answer for you: It's packing Nvidia's teeny, high-performance Tegra processor.

As we explained in our Giz Explains: Low-Power Chipsets, Nvidia's Tegra proc is designed to handle high-def video and Flash with buttery smoothness in small packages, just like the Zune HD. So while this is as yet still unconfirmed, given that we haven't had confirmation from Microsoft, it makes a lot of sense and would actually be a very smart move—and the sources reporting the rumor seem very certain that it's true. With a Tegra processor, the Zune HD would certainly be able to decode videos with far less necessary power than with any other chipset, which means better battery life combined with better video quality. What else could you want from a next-gen PMP? [PC Perspective]

RF signal processors are pretty commonplace in consumer electronics. Which is exactly why it's exciting that two MIT researchers have created a super-radio based around the function of the human ear that's substantially faster and 100x more power efficient than today's signal processors.

The inner ear is able to take in all the noise in a surrounding area, and adapt how it processes the sound accordingly. Gizmag says that in a similar fashion, the RF Cochlea is able to analyze a wide range of frequencies, and maximize how it routes data for maximum bandwidth and minimal power consumption. In testing, these designs have been faster than anything they've ever seen before.

What this means for the rest of us is the development of faster, smarter radios for signals such as television channels, cellphones, wi-fi, etc... These "smart radios" could not only take unused bandwidth from one application and put it to work in another, but they could also learn to avoid certain frequencies based on the radio waves in their current location. The end result would be stronger, clearer wireless signals.

The researchers also think it would be possible to commercialize this technology within a couple of years, if someone was so motivated. I like that. [Gizmag]

T-Mobile's followup to the G1 has gone through more than a few name changes, but it looks like we'll finally be seeing the American version—the T-Mobile myTouch 3G—this summer.

The Wall Street Journal, which we'd say is a reasonably respectable publication, has it on good authority that the newest Android handset to hit our shores will be announced next week. This lines up nicely with what we've heard from T-Mobile's CTO, so we think it's pretty credible. Of course, who knows what "this summer" means; it could be next month, or it could be late September. We'll find out more from the rumored announcement next week. You can check out our review of the variably-named phone here if you want to find out the ins and outs of this latest Android offering. [Wall Street Journal]

If you're an insomniac like I am, the $400 Zeo Personal Sleep Coach alarm clock comes equipped with nifty gadgets that'll help you self-diagnose. When you go to bed, you wear a wireless headband that is able to read your brainwaves, then magically transmit the data back to an SD card hidden in your clock.

In the morning, you can then transfer the findings into your PC, then upload the results to Zeo online, which will then give you a diagnostic of how well you sleep at night, and suggestions of what you can do to improve that sleep. Or I can just tell you why you can't sleep at night—it's either because of the never ending abundance of porn, or that uncomfortable headband, pressing down on your forehead, strangling your brain and messing up your hair. [Zeo via Technabob via DVice]

The iPhone Dev Team, jailbreakers of all things iPhone, have released a demonstration video of a version of yellowsn0w they dub "ultrasn0w" that purportedly unlocks every version of the iPhone running everything from 3.0 on down the line.

Though it was announced earlier today, they still haven't revealed too much about "ultrasn0w" yet for fear of Apple updating the software with a lock, only saying that the new software should be out this Friday for your hacking pleasure. It's not totally clear that the newly-rebranded ultrasn0w will work on the new iPhone 3GS, either, but Apple hasn't been able to create an iPhone the Dev Team can't jailbreak yet. Check out the video above for more info, with the caveat that the first two minutes are just a static image. [iPhone Dev Team]

High-end iPhone gaming company Ngmoco will be launching Plus+, their social gaming service, for the iPhone tomorrow.

Similar to Microsoft's Xbox Live subscription, Ngmoco Plus+ gamers will be able to create profiles, keep track of friends, records and gaming history across multiple games. But unlike XBL, Plus+'s service won't be $50 a year—it'll be completely free. Since I've had enough of homophobic middle-schoolers, let's just hope that this service doesn't come with voice chat. [Business Insider]

Here's the stuff that we didn't post today. (Until now, obviously.)

I am saddened to report that the overdue This Is Spinal Tap Blu-ray experience has been downgraded from fully interactive to merely rich. The "Create Your Own Band" game I was personally awaiting as a means to return to rock stardom has been killed, and in its stead, the July 28 release will have concert footage from Tap's 2007 Live Earth reunion at Wembley, and Nigel Tufnel's interview for the National Geographic Stonehenge special. [From Fox Press Release]

We love a good terrarium (aquariums even more), but this one tests the limits of decency. Sure, it looks awesome, but steampunk is utterly played out, and we feel just awful for any frogs unlucky enough to call this their artificial habitat—not only is it cramped, but there's a bright light inside meant to cast eerie psychedelic glows on the walls. Besides all that, it's sold out. [TheAwesomer]

How do we know master modder EvilDan really is evil? Spikes. That, and the hideous Joker-themed color scheme he chose for his Xbox 360 casemod with built-in LCD. This DeviantArtist neglected to report any details when he posted this single pic of the mod, so we don't know how else to react to his creation besides, you know, turning on the Bat Signal and hoping for swift justice. [Technabob]

We have a ton of respect for the folks at Wired's Gadget Lab, but we're not sure what to make of their guide to avoiding the iPhone 3GS Upgrade Tax. Yes, a lot of people are pissed off about having to spend an extra $218 for the newest model, but the advice given here seems full of uncertain payoffs (sell to junk buyer sites) and certain hassles (pay the early cancellation fee and terminate your account). Judging from these options, waiting till spring or paying the extra $$$ seems easier. [Wired]

Despite the fact that tasing a full-grown man borders on excessive, a Texas cop found it necessary to tase a 72-year-old woman because she was yelling at him. And the slightly horrific, slightly hilarious farce was all caught on camera.

The Travis County cop says that he had to pull out the Taser last week because she wouldn't sign her ticket and then started to act violent. Sadly, his commanding officer backed him up.

Now look here, piggies: I'd be tempted to tase the woman too for getting out of line when you may or may not be trying to do your job. But seriously, you could toss her in a cop car with one arm tied behind your back if you wanted to. And using a leopard-print taser doesn't count. Just because it looks feminine doesn't mean it packs any less of a punch.

Also, thank god the cop cam had video AND audio, because the dialogue from 40 seconds and on made me laugh. Multiple times (yes, I'm going to hell). The best part—the cop actually expected her to put her arms behind her back after being tased. Aaron Sorkin couldn't have written that better. [Shiny Objects via Obscure Store]

I like all the little tricks surfacing in Snow Leopard, Apple's next edition of OS X, from Macrumors, AppleInsider and Mac Life. Aside from the features we've already seen, here are some new favs:

There's this Wi-Fi strength indicator, long overdue, in the dock.

And when a battery is close to end of life, the OS will report that, too. (To clarify, not only a dead battery, but one that will fail to hold its charge well.)

Automatic spelling correction in textedit.

Among other speed enhancements, boot and shut down twice as fast as in OS X Leopard.

Of course, these are really trivial next to things like multicore and GPU processing. But refined details are something I appreciate in an operating system.

[Macrumors, AppleInsider and Mac Life]

The Galaxy i7500—Samsung's Android handset—is one of the first major, advanced smartphones to feature haptic feedback. PCWorld managed to get their hands on one and report back with their first impressions.

Samsung's Galaxy is a 11.9 millimeter-slim handset that features a 3.2-inch AMOLED touchscreen and 5-megapixel camera, and also comes equipped with GPS, Wi-Fi and and WCDMA support. Even more, the phone calls attention to the haptic feedback on its virtual keyboard, which is a first for a major touchscreen smartphone.

Because the AMOLED screen reportedly draws less power than the iPhone's TFT-LCD screens do, the Galaxy apparently has a longer battery life, making this—coupled with the haptic feedback—more mainstream-consumer friendly for those who have yet to purchase a smartphone. Although pricing and release dates are not finalized, the Galaxy will supposedly be available in Europe by the end of this month, and the rest of the world in the second half of 2009. [PC World via Talk Android]