News

Rumors of an iPhone on Verizon's network have once again begun to circulate, this time from a report by OTR Global. In the report, they claim that Apple is considering making a new iPhone that would hybrid Verizon's CDMA2000 technology with AT&T's UMTS 3G network. The ability to easily put both in one device recently came about with Qualcomm's new hybrid CDMA/WCDMA chip.

Radioshack has officially announced that they will begin selling the iPhone 3G and 3GS in select company stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth and New York City metropolitan areas, starting some time later this month. They also added that they hope to have them available in stores nationwide by some time around 2010.

In a lawsuit that can only be described as bizarre, Apple, Steve Jobs, and Sarah Jessica Parker are being accused of stealing the idea for the iPod and iPhone back in 1989. The plaintiff is Franz A. Wakefield, who says that after winning first place at the 17th Congressional District Arts Competition, he was asked by Congressman William Lehman to disclose trade secrets to the FBI, which he claims included concepts for the iPod, iTunes (including $0.99 song prices), and the iPhone.

UK iPhone owners subscribed to O2 will be allowed to unlock for other carriers, according to the CEO of O2's parent company, Telefonica Europe. "Once the iPhone becomes available on other UK networks," says Matthew Key, "we will allow O2 customers to unlock their iPhones, although of course they will still need to honour any outstanding contract period they have. At the end of their contract period, they are entirely free to move to another operator -- though naturally we hope they won't want to!"

In a new patent application published this week by the US Patent and Trademark Office, Apple details a method of sharing files between devices on the same personal network in order to simplify the syncing process. The patent describes a system for controlling what content is synced between devices and what isn't, and includes a new app tentatively named "Grab and Go" that would allow the user to access files from other local devices.

Orb Games has just released what may become my new game obsession for the iPhone. It's called Kamikaze Race [App Store, $0.99] and it puts you in the seat of an extremely fast car on a busy highway. But there's a catch: your brakes have stopped working and your accelerator is jammed! The goal is to simply survive as long as you can, unlocking achievements as you go.

I've had some time to play with Kamikaze and I have to say that it's addictive, fun, and totally intense. A trifecta of fun that makes it a winner, especially at just $0.99. If you're still not convinced, check out the gameplay video below!

Storm8, a developer responsible for iMobsters, Vampires Live, and Zombies LIve, is the target of a class action lawsuit accusing them of secretly collecting the phone numbers of users who download and play their games. The company claims that their games have been downloaded more than 20 million times. Storm8 admitted to transferring users' phone numbers back in August, but shook it off as only a bug.

Have you ever wondered how the iPhone and Apple's other devices like the iPod and iMac got the iconic lowercase "i" preceding their name? It all started with the iMac, but why? Who's idea was it? The answer is Ken Segall, and Cult of Mac recently got a chance to sit down with him for an interview about the birth of the "i" and life at working with Apple during the company's rebirth as one of the leaders in consumer gadgetry.

According to Einar Rosenberg, Apple has begun experimenting with putting RFID chips with the possibility of a wide range of uses, such as doubling as a credit card, assisting in identifying lost or stolen devices, paying for mass transit, or possibly even using it to sync with a Mac. The source adds that there seems to be a decent chance that we will see it in the next iPhone.

This has yet to be confirmed, but could be really interesting. Two sources have now stated that AT&T (and through them, probably Apple) have stated that a $99 8GB iPhone 3GS may be in the works. One source has stated that this is their way of combating the DROID fever that's been building with the competing device on the horizon.

Over on the PC end of things, Intel has issued an official comment concerning the iPhone sync issues some users are experiencing with certain PCs containing a specific Intel chipset. “Our leading theory is a BIOS or system configuration issue, but we are still investigating,” Intel said.

A coding firm in India was recently exposed for falsifying their resume, claiming to have coded several popular apps in the App Store that they had nothing to do with in order to gain clients. The story starts with TapBots CEO, Paul Haddad, being asked if their popular app, ConvertBot [App Store, $0.99] was coded by Trucid. Of course, it was coded by TapBots LLC.

Is it just me or is everyone running iPhone contests these days? Anyway, one of our favorite case makers, Case-mate, is giving away a 1982 Suzuki FA50 moped to the winner of their Recession Case Photo Contest! All you have to do is add your own stylings to one of their aptly named Recession Cases, upload a photo of it, and get those votes! The case with the most votes will win a super sweet moped! If you can't afford a $0.99 Recession Case, Case-mate offers instructions on their site on how to make your very own; as in no purchase necessary folks. You should all be participating in this one.

Bottom line: wrap your iPhone in a customized Recession (or hand-made) Case, take a photo of it, and get people to vote on them. If you win, you get a sweet moped! Full contest details are on Case-mate's site.

To promote RingtoneStudio for Mac, PocketMac has announced a contest to give away a factory-unlocked iPhone 3G to one lucky participant. The iPhone 3G was unlocked by Apple and therefore does not require any hacking, jailbreaking, or any other types of foolery to maintain the unlock. It can be used on any carrier and updated normally through iTunes. PocketMac is also giving away three $15 iTunes gift cards and two $50 iTunes gift cards.

To win the iPhone 3G, all you need to do is purchase a copy of RingtoneStudio for Mac ($19.95). As the contest progresses, the prizes get better. Starting now, you can win a $15 iTunes gift card. Once 100 copies are sold, the $50 gift cards are unlocked. Once 250 copies are sold, one lucky winner will receive an unlocked iPhone 3G. Read on for further details!

Apple has announced that the App Store has officially reached an inventory of 100,000 available apps for the iPhone and iPod touch. While more than 100,000 have been submitted and approved, not all of them stayed available for long, keeping the number below 100k. Apple issued a statement on their website about what they think this means about their success.