<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1.2px; text-indent: -1.2px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 10px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">CONTENTS:</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">__________________________________________________________________________________________________</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">1. MEETING UPDATE</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">2. FREEWARE MAC MAINTENANCE APPLICATIONS</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">3. QUICKTIME 7.5 ADDRESSES SECURITY CONCERNS, IMOVIE AND IDVD UPDATED </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">4. MAC OS X SNOW LEOPARD TO FOCUS ON PERFORMANCE, NOT FEATURES</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">5. APPLE ANNOUNCES IPHONE 3G TO SHIP ON 11-JUL-08</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">________________________________________________________________________________________________</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">This email news and updates newsletter will be sent each month to all WelMac members who have requested to receive such messages when they applied/reapplied for membership. To subscribe, go to <<a href="http://www.welmac.org.nz/cgi-bin/lists/mail.cgi?f=u&l=announce"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://welmac.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/news_welmac.org.nz</span></a>>.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">****************************************************************************************************</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>1. MEETING UPDATES</b></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>Wellington Meeting</b></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The next main meeting of the Wellington Macintosh Society Inc. will be held on Monday 30 June 2008. This meeting will be held in the Ante Room on the ground level of Turnbull House, 11 Bowen Street, Wellington from 7.10pm.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The topic for this meeting has been altered and full details will be announced in the forthcoming issue of Capital Apple.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">As usual, we'll start with our Q&A session followed by a short supper before the main presentation.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>Kapiti Area Meeting</b></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">For those members living at or near the Paraparaumu area, our next Kapiti meeting will be held at 7.10 pm on Monday 7th July 2008 (which also is Queens Birthday this year). It will be at the Rita King Cottage at St Marks Church in Rosetta Road, Raumati. The topic of the meeting will be the same as the Wellington meeting, i.e. The Dark Side of the Internet.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>Mac Basics Meeting</b></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">This meeting is an introduction to computing on a Macintosh will be held on Monday 14 July 2008 (tonight) starting at 7pm in the Turnbull Room on the 1st floor of Turnbull House. This months meeting will look at the second topic in our series of three, using basic applications such as word processors, spreadsheets and some utility applications.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>Applications Special Interest Group</b></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Monday 21 July 2008 starting 7 pm in the Turnbull Room on the 1st floor of Turnbull House.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">These meetings will take a look at commonly used applications (software) and this month will be the second part of three looking at the uses and setup of basic databases and how you can make them work for you.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">****************************************************************************************************</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>2. FREEWARE MAC MAINTENANCE APPLICATIONS</b></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">by Tim Verpoorten</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">There are a plethora of freeware Mac maintenance applications out there in the real world, which is a bit ironic because OSX really needs little maintenance beyond what it performs on itself. For example, if you leave your Mac on, it will perform all the daily, weekly and monthly maintenance scripts that it needs to stay healthy and alert. Even when you shut it down, OSX Tiger and Leopard are smart enough to realize that it missed running it's scripts while it was down, so it will run them as soon as you boot it back up again.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Then there is the matter of defragmenting your hard drive. The Mac HFS Plus file system works well to keep your files in one piece and even if it does fragment them, the new hard drives run so well that you'll hardly notice any difference between a fragmented file or an unfragmented file. Then let's not forget that we're told to delete the cache files. Cache files were developed to speed up the OS, so when you delete them, you're defeating the purpose to begin with. The only time to delete cache files is when you're having troubles with OSX, then you can repair permissions and delete cache files until your heart's content.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">So after telling you all of this, why are we going to talk about freeware Mac maintenance applications? After producing the MacReviewCast podcast for three years, I've discovered that listeners want to know about maintenance programs for their Macs before any other apps. Also, if you're like me, you'd rather be certain that these maintenance tasks were done when you wanted them done. In other words, I just sleep better knowing that my Mac is the best that it can be. So after that scientific reasoning, let's take a look at the freeware programs that take care of your precious Mac.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Let's start with two utilities from Titanium Software.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000000">Maintenance: <a href="http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs2/english/maintenance.html"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px">http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs2/english/maintenance.html</span></a></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000000">OnyX: <a href="http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs2/english/onyx_leopard.html"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px">http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs2/english/onyx_leopard.html</span></a></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Maintenance allows you to run several tasks of system maintenance: repair permissions, run periodic scripts, reset Spotlight's Index, rebuild the LaunchServices database, delete applications, font and system cache, and even check the status of the hard disk. It's a basic system maintenance and cleaning application. OnyX is multi-functional, they say that it handles maintenance, optimization, and personalization. Other then handling the functions that Maintenance already handles, OnyX also verifies the start-up disk and the structure of its system files, it configures some hidden parameters of the Finder, Dock, Dashboard, Exposé, Safari, Log-in window and of some of Apple's own applications, it deletes caches, and removes a certain number of files and folders that may become overbearing on the overall CPU load. There are a few other tweaks that OnyX allows you to play with, but it's shining star is still the maintenance jobs that it handles. Either Maintenance or OnyX will do a good job for you. I personally use OnyX because it does a good job of updating itself and allows me to run all the scripts and routines I need it to run and them will automatically reboot or shut down my Mac after it's finished.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The next freeware application that seems to be a real favorite is,</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000000">MainMenu: <a href="http://www.santasw.com/"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px">http://www.santasw.com</span></a></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">MainMenu does all things that a good maintenance program should do, rebuilding your Spotlight library for faster searching, repairing permissions, cleaning caches to improve application performance, and even more advanced settings - such as enabling and disabling the Dashboard. But what makes this such a fan favorite is it's simple, and easy to use menu-bar interface. If you want an app that does it's stuff and gets out of the way, MainMenu is the one for you.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000000">IceClean: <a href="http://www.macdentro.com/MacDentro/Home.html"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px">http://www.macdentro.com/MacDentro/Home.html</span></a></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">IceClean is another freeware solution that has a lot of fans, it's new Cocoa interface make it as Mac-looking as you can get. IceClean is a powerful System Maintenance and Optimization Tool using only UNIX built-in System Tasks to help your Mac stay healthy and to keep it running smoothly. Besides the basic Unix maintenance tasks, IceClean can also monitor your network state and do traceroute. It gives you a quick and full CD/DVD erase. IceClean also contains a full system profiler. It's also important to note that like the three previous options, IceClean will update itself often and automatically to make certain your OSX is running safe and sound.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000000">AppleJack: <a href="http://applejack.sourceforge.net/"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px">http://applejack.sourceforge.net</span></a></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">If you want to get your hands dirty and you are not using Leopard, AppleJack is a great maintenance app to have on your Mac. Using AppleJack, you can repair your disk, repair permissions, validate the system's preference files, and get rid of possibly corrupted cache files. The real asset in using Applejack is that you don't have to have access to your GUI to run the app, if your Mac isn't letting you log into your account, all you need to do is restart in Single User Mode (SUM), by holding down the command and s keys at start-up, and then typing applejack, or applejack auto (which will run through all the tasks automatically), or Applejack auto restart (which will also restart the computer automatically at the end of the process). I really wish a new version would be released that would work on a Leopard machine. AppleJack should be on all the older Macs, it's a great troubleshooter.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">There are some other maintenance applications out there that will run the normal Unix scripts, but these are the ones that you'll run into most often, and between them, you'll have more then enough options to choose from. But I didn't want to leave without a few other freeware applications that can help keep your Mac and the software on it running at it's best.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000000">Battery Health Monitor: <a href="http://sonoragraphics.com/batteryhealth.html"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px">http://sonoragraphics.com/batteryhealth.html</span></a></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Battery Health Monitor is a must have app for any Mac laptop owner. BHM monitors virtually every battery parameter and does it in an easy to read format. BHM will show you the Original capacity, which is an indication of the battery's storage when it was new. The current capacity indicates how much that original capacity has changed with use. The current charge shows the battery's current charge state while Charge Cycles indicates how many complete charge/discharge cycles the battery has experienced. The percentage value indicates approximately what portion of the number of total recharge cycles the battery has left. There are even more details about your battery that you'll find when you use Battery Health Monitor. I would say that anyone with a laptop should give it a try.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000000">SpeedMail: <a href="http://www.1802.it/speedmail.php"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px">http://www.1802.it/speedmail.php</span></a></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">When your Apple Mail seems to slow down, most of the time it can be contributed to the database. Speedmail is a terminal command that will clean up your Apple Mail database and give you a noticeable speed increase. It's nothing fancy, but it does the job.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">HighLoad: <a href="http://www.geniusx.net/highload"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://www.geniusx.net/highload</span></a> Finally there's Highload. According to their website, HighLoad is comprised of a set of helpful processes designed to assist in troubleshooting your Mac. HighLoad will systematically begin to launch applications you would use when you're running your computer. This will simulate a real world high load environment to make sure items such as the virtual memory system, window server system, and other integrated processes are being utilized to the max. HighLoad will test available physical memory using memtest to make sure it is faulty free. No parameters to set or complex commands to issue, just one click. Highload will also take care of all the maintenance tasks that you need done, permissions, caches, pre-bindings and more. </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">So after you've tried all these programs and repaired permissions and cleared caches until the cows came home, what have you really accomplished? Probably not a lot more then if you'd never ran any of them at all. That may be a point of contention with a lot of Mac users, so I say it's better to be safe then sorry and find yourself a freeware maintenance program that you can live with and use it regularly. After all, your peace of mind is worth more then the cost of a single freeware application, right?</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">****************************************************************************************************</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>3. QUICKTIME 7.5 ADDRESSES SECURITY CONCERNS, IMOVIE AND IDVD UPDATED </b></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">by Jeff Carlson <<a href="mailto:jeffc@tidbits.com"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">jeffc@tidbits.com</span></a>></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">While the iPhone 3G and Snow Leopard grabbed everyone's attention at the Worldwide Developers Conference last week, Apple also released security and bug-fix updates to QuickTime, iMovie '08, and iDVD '08.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">QuickTime 7.5 tackles several security issues dealing with maliciously crafted media: PICT images, AAC-encoded media, and Indeo video. It also changes the behavior of handling URLs by revealing files in the Finder or Windows Explorer instead of launching them. (For more information on recent QuickTime security issues and how Apple is addressing them, see "QuickTime Security Enhanced with Anti-Exploitation Technologies," 2007-09-07.)</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #00009a"><<a href="http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1991"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1991</span></a>> <<a href="http://db.tidbits.com/article/9579"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://db.tidbits.com/article/9579</span></a>></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">QuickTime 7.5 is available via Software Update or as stand-alone downloads for the following operating systems: Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard (56 MB), Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger (52.8 MB), Mac OS X 10.3 Panther (51.39 MB), and Windows XP and Vista (22.67 MB).</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #00009a"><<a href="http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime75forleopard.html"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime75forleopard.html</span></a>> <<a href="http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime75fortiger.html"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime75fortiger.html</span></a>> <<a href="http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime75forpanther.html"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime75forpanther.html</span></a>> <<a href="http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime75forwindows.html"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime75forwindows.html</span></a>></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Apple's updates for iMovie and iDVD only state that each addresses "general compatibility issues, improves overall stability, and addresses a number of other minor issues." They're also available via Software Update (once QuickTime 7.5, which is required, is installed), or as stand-alone downloads: iMovie 7.1.2 (17.9 MB) and iDVD 7.0.2 (20.27 MB). They also require Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #00009a"><<a href="http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/imovie712.html"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/imovie712.html</span></a>> <<a href="http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/idvd702.html"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/idvd702.html</span></a>></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">****************************************************************************************************</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>4. MAC OS X SNOW LEOPARD TO FOCUS ON PERFORMANCE, NOT FEATURES </b></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">by Adam C. Engst <<a href="mailto:ace@tidbits.com"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">ace@tidbits.com</span></a>></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">At the beginning of the Worldwide Developers Conference keynote, Apple announced it would provide information about the next version of Mac OS X - code-named Snow Leopard - after the keynote. Since all the content at WWDC other than the keynote is covered by non-disclosure agreements, it seemed that Apple didn't plan to talk in public about what we could expect.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">However, a press release about Snow Leopard appeared late in the day revealing some details. Instead of adding marquee features like Time Machine and Spaces, Snow Leopard will instead focus on enhancing performance and reliability and lay the foundation for future features. In particular, Snow Leopard will be optimized for multi-core processors, be able to tap into the computing power of modern graphic processing units (GPUs), make it possible to address up to 16 TB of RAM, ship with QuickTime X, and provide out-of-the-box support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 in Mail, iCal, and Address Book.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #00009a"><<a href="http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/06/09snowleopard.html"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/06/09snowleopard.html</span></a>></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">A new technology code-named "Grand Central" will make it easier for developers to create applications that make the most of multi-core Macs, which should let people get more from those 8-core Mac Pros. Additional performance gains will come from support for Open Computing Language (OpenCL), a new language from Apple that supposedly lets any application access the gigaflops of computing power previously available only to graphics applications. Apple says that OpenCL is based on the C programming language and has been proposed as an open standard; the only hints about it up to now came in an interview with the Nvidia CEO.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #00009a"><<a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-9962117-37.html"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-9962117-37.html</span></a>></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">QuickTime X will reportedly optimize support for modern audio and video formats for more-efficient media playback. It seems likely that QuickTime is due for a major rewrite, given how long it has been around. Finally, Safari will receive JavaScript performance enhancements that are intended to provide an enhanced user experience for Web applications, perhaps due to a new JavaScript engine called SquirrelFish that's recently seen the light of day.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #00009a"><<a href="http://webkit.org/blog/189/announcing-squirrelfish"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://webkit.org/blog/189/announcing-squirrelfish</span></a>></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The press release said that Snow Leopard is slated to ship "in about a year," and I'm sure more details will start leaking out as developers receive seeds. Overall, my initial reaction is that Snow Leopard is a very good move for Apple, because the focus on adding features in favor of performance has meant that Mac OS X has become increasingly poky for many users. And I suspect that people are no longer responding as favorably to long lists of features that they may or may not use - although I use them happily, none of the new features in Tiger or Leopard have radically changed the way I use my Mac. Apple touts Mac OS X as being rock-solid and easy to use (especially compared to Windows), so enhancing the engine under Leopard's hood could be just what many people are looking for in the next update.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">It can be difficult to convince users to pay for better performance and more efficient workings under the hood, but perhaps Apple will charge less than the usual $129. Or, perhaps Apple will give Snow Leopard away for free, in preparation for a Mac App Store that will give Apple a cut of every Mac application sold. But that's just crazy talk... or is it?</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">QuickTime 7.5 is available via Software Update or as stand-alone downloads for the following operating systems: Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard (56 MB), Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger (52.8 MB), Mac OS X 10.3 Panther (51.39 MB), and Windows XP and Vista (22.67 MB).</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #00009a"><<a href="http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime75forleopard.html"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime75forleopard.html</span></a>> <<a href="http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime75fortiger.html"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime75fortiger.html</span></a>> <<a href="http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime75forpanther.html"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime75forpanther.html</span></a>> <<a href="http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime75forwindows.html"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime75forwindows.html</span></a>></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Apple's updates for iMovie and iDVD only state that each addresses "general compatibility issues, improves overall stability, and addresses a number of other minor issues." They're also available via Software Update (once QuickTime 7.5, which is required, is installed), or as stand-alone downloads: iMovie 7.1.2 (17.9 MB) and iDVD 7.0.2 (20.27 MB). They also require Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #00009a"><<a href="http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/imovie712.html"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/imovie712.html</span></a>> <<a href="http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/idvd702.html"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/idvd702.html</span></a>></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">************************************************************************</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>5. APPLE ANNOUNCES IPHONE 3G TO SHIP ON 11-JUL-08 </b></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">by Adam C. Engst <<a href="mailto:ace@tidbits.com"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">ace@tidbits.com</span></a>></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Ending months of speculation and rumor, Steve Jobs today announced that the first major revision to the iPhone, dubbed the iPhone 3G, will ship on 11-Jul-08 for $199 (8 GB) or $299 (16 GB). The iPhone 2.0 software, which will be a free upgrade for all current iPhone owners, will also debut on that date. iPod touch owners will be able to upgrade to the new software for $9.95.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #00009a"><<a href="http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/06/09iphone.html"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/06/09iphone.html</span></a>> <<a href="http://www.apple.com/iphone/"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://www.apple.com/iphone/</span></a>></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The iPhone 3G will launch initially in 22 countries, with Apple aiming for availability in more than 70 countries by the end of 2008. To illustrate the complexity in such a device, Apple said in a briefing that the iPhone 3G has 10 radios, 7 of them covering the various spectrum slices used around the world.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">New Hardware</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">As you might expect from the name, the iPhone 3G supports third-generation cellular data networking that operates over eight times faster than the EDGE data support in the first iPhone model. Apple claims just a factor of 2 to 3 times faster Web-page loading and email-attachment downloading. AT&T's flavor of 3G also makes it possible to use data-based services while you're talking on the phone.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The iPhone 3G's enhanced networking capabilities don't come at the expense of previous capabilities, and the device can switch among 3G, EDGE, and Wi-Fi as needed. The iPhone 3G can be set to use only 2G networks when that's necessary, which might be the case in reducing roaming charges outside of one's home carrier network.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The other major hardware enhancement in the iPhone 3G is a GPS receiver, which enhances the current iPhone's cell tower triangulation and nearby Wi-Fi network sniffing to provide more accurate position and real-time location mapping and tracking over time. In the keynote, Jobs demonstrated a drive the company "recorded" down San Francisco's famous curvy Lombard Street, with the Maps application playing back the progress over the same time duration, pulsating a ring of blue as a blue dot moved.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">A GPS receiver can drain power from a mobile device quite rapidly - that's why they're often used while plugged in to an automobile. But in a briefing, Apple explained that the GPS receiver was engaged only while Maps was active, or when a program that called on Core Location features in the iPhone 2.0 software was using the GPS. The iPhone will ask your permission before allowing an application to use the location hardware, too.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">It remains to be seen if Apple or another developer will add spoken directions. Technically speaking, the iPhone 3G supports Assisted GPS, or A-GPS, which increases accuracy and improves performance by offloading some processing to a remote server. The GPS capabilities also enable photo geotagging, although the iPhone's built-in camera remains stuck at a mere 2 megapixels.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #00009a"><<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGPS"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGPS</span></a>></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Less sexy but equally useful is the iPhone 3G's improved battery life in standby and talk time. Apple provides the following estimates, although our experience with all vendor battery life estimates is that they're optimistic and seldom reflect real-world usage (since, for instance, you would likely perform a variety of these actions over the course of a normal day of iPhone usage).</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">* Up to 300 hours of standby time * 10 hours of talk time on 2G networks * 5 hours of talk time on 3G networks * 5 (3G) or 6 (Wi-Fi) hours of Web browsing * Up to 7 hours of video playback * Up to 24 hours of audio playback</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The iPhone 3G uses 3G for talk when connected to 3G networks, and that reduces talk time by half, as you can see. With a switch in Settings, you can force the iPhone to use 2G networks to extend talk time or reduce data roaming bills when you're roaming away from home.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Physically, the iPhone 3G is almost identical to the original iPhone. Apple's specs page shows it increasing in depth by .02 inches (.7 mm) and decreasing in weight by .1 ounces (2 grams), not something we can imagine anyone but a dock manufacturer noticing or caring about.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #00009a"><<a href="http://www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html</span></a>></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">TidBITS editor Glenn Fleishman spent a few minutes with an iPhone 3G during an Apple briefing, and found that despite the tiny changes in weight and size that it was noticeably lighter - he compared by holding his 2G iPhone in one hand and an iPhone 3G in the other - and nicer to hold.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">However, the original iPhone's easily scratched chrome back has been replaced with plastic - black by default, although there's an option for white in the 16 GB model. And the headphone jack is now flush with the case, something that garnered big applause from the WWDC audience. (The original model's recessed jack meant some third-party headsets wouldn't fit without use of an adapter.) Jobs claimed that the iPhone 3G also boasts dramatically better audio quality thanks to better built-in speakers.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #00009a"><<a href="http://images.apple.com/iphone/images/specs_colors20080609.jpg"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://images.apple.com/iphone/images/specs_colors20080609.jpg</span></a>></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">iPhone 2.0 Software</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Current iPhone and iPod touch owners won't have to buy an iPhone 3G to take advantage of other new features, however, since the iPhone 2.0 software that drives the iPhone 3G is also available to the earlier devices. The iPhone 2.0 software will enable users to move and delete multiple email messages at once, search for contacts, use a new scientific calculator (merely by flipping the iPhone to landscape orientation when displaying the current calculator), turn on parental controls to restrict specified content, and save images directly from a Web page or send them to your iPhone via email (from which they can then be transferred back to the Mac).</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #00009a"><<a href="http://www.apple.com/iphone/softwareupdate/"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://www.apple.com/iphone/softwareupdate/</span></a>> <<a href="http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/calculator.html"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/calculator.html</span></a>></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Some users will particularly appreciate the capability to view (but not edit) email-attached documents from the iWork suite within the Mail program: Keynote, Pages, and Numbers, along with Microsoft PowerPoint (joining the existing support for Word and Excel documents). And, finally, the iPhone's Calendar app now supports multiple iCal calendars, instead of grouping every event into one calendar.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #00009a"><<a href="http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/calendar.html"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/calendar.html</span></a>></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">There's a subtle change that Apple discussed in a briefing when asked about the ability to enable Wi-Fi and disable cell radios in aircraft, since many airlines in the United States will be launching on-board Internet access using Wi-Fi in the next few months. An existing Airplane Mode in Settings turns off all radios when enabled; Apple said that the iPhone 2.0 software would allow Wi-Fi to be switched back on after Airplane Mode was engaged. This would also let you extend battery life by disabling 9 of the 10 on-board radios if you didn't need voice calling. (Like cell radios, GPS receivers are illegal to use in flight.)</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Of course, we anticipate that the most interesting applications will come from third-party developers who have now been using the iPhone SDK (software development kit) for three months to create a wide range of programs. 250,000 people downloaded the free iPhone SDK, and 25,000 applied for the paid developer program, but only 4,000 have been admitted to the developer program so far.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">During the WWDC keynote, Apple brought a number of developers on stage to show their applications and make the expected platitudes about how wonderful it was to develop for the iPhone. Sega, Pangea Software, and Digital Legends Entertainment showed off games that took advantage of the built-in accelerometer and gestures; eBay demoed a native application for bidding in auctions; two companies presented medical applications; the Associated Press and MLB.com showed news-related programs; and the social-networking site Loopt used the iPhone 3G's location capabilities to show the location of your friends. The developer who garnered the most applause, however, was a lone developer named Mark Terry from Moo Cow Music, whose Band program lets iPhone users mix songs using a variety of instruments.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #00009a"><<a href="http://moocowmusic.com/Band/"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://moocowmusic.com/Band/</span></a>></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">All iPhone applications, free or commercial, will be available via the new App Store; see "More iPhone App Store Details Revealed" (2008-06-09) for more.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #00009a"><<a href="http://www.apple.com/iphone/appstore/"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://www.apple.com/iphone/appstore/</span></a>> <<a href="http://db.tidbits.com/9646"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://db.tidbits.com/9646</span></a>></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Pricing and Availability</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Jobs acknowledged that one of the major challenges Apple faced with the original iPhone was the price, which started out at $599 for an 8 GB model. The first price cut dropped that to $399 (see the details at the end of "Apple Introduces iPod touch, Wi-Fi iTunes Store, and New iPods," 2007-09-10), and Apple has now reduced the price yet again, cutting it in half to $199 in the United States, and he said it would cost the same or less worldwide. That's for a black 8 GB model; for 16 GB of RAM, you'll pay $299, and you'll get the choice of a black or white back.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #00009a"><<a href="http://db.tidbits.com/article/9152"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://db.tidbits.com/article/9152</span></a>></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Although it's hard to argue with Apple dropping the iPhone's price by $200, a fact that came out only after the keynote is that 3G service plans will increase by $10 per month for personal plans, and $25 per month for business plans. That makes the cheapest package $70 per month. Historically, Apple has received a share of revenue, but Ars Technica is reporting that the revenue-sharing deal hasn't been extended to the new model, along with the fact that current iPhone users who want to upgrade will be able to do so by starting a new 2-year contract, not adding another 2 years on top of the remaining contract commitment. Instead of the revenue sharing deal, AT&T is subsidizing the price of iPhones, according to the Associated Press, a standard cellular-phone pricing arrangement.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #00009a"><<a href="http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/06/09/att-remains-sole-iphone-carrier-in-us-revenue-sharing-axed"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/06/09/att-remains-sole-iphone-carrier-in-us-revenue-sharing-axed</span></a>> <<a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hHJEtMffp-_0zKP9QU7QkBMhuOXgD916PAOO5"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hHJEtMffp-_0zKP9QU7QkBMhuOXgD916PAOO5</span></a>></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">(Don't cry for AT&T: with the cheapest personal service plan, they'll realize about $500 more in revenue over two years with the higher fee and no revenue sharing than they did with the 2G iPhone.)</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The iPhone 3G will be available in 22 countries on 11-Jul-08. Interestingly, the online Apple Store is not accepting pre-orders; it merely points to retail Apple Store and AT&T locations where the iPhone will be available.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #00009a"><<a href="http://www.apple.com/iphone/buy/"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">http://www.apple.com/iphone/buy/</span></a>></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">What's Next?</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">This product announcement was perhaps the least-well-kept of Apple's secrets since Steve Jobs returned to the company many years ago. Both the 3G and GPS additions have been discussed for ages, and Apple itself raised the curtain on the iPhone SDK and App Store months ago. So in some sense, despite the massive amount of anticipation, there's a slight letdown in not being wowed by entirely unanticipated features or in Apple not delivering on every rumored feature, such as a forward-facing video camera for iChat video chatting. (Damn those rumors for raising our hopes!) That does leave room for a third-generation iPhone to appear next year, though who knows what Apple will call it, given that the _second-generation_ is the iPhone _3G_.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">****************************************************************************************************</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Some articles above have been reprinted with permission from TidBITS. TidBITS has offered more than ten years of thoughtful commentary on Macintosh and Internet topics. For free email subscriptions and access to the entire TidBITS archive, visit <a href="http://www.tidbits.com/"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">www.tidbits.com</span></a>.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">****************************************************************************************************</span></div></div></div></body></html>