You’re the proud owner of an Original or iPhone 3G, but you just can’t help but ogle your mates 3GS ever since he got it. With it’s fancy new compass, voice recognition and video recording, your Original/3G is starting to look a bit tired. Problem is, you’ve got at least another couple of months on your contract left and the networks are charging extortionate amounts for early upgrade. You could try buying a PAYG iPhone 3GS and sell your old and busted iPhone taking the hit on the difference, but that’s probably just as much as the early termination/upgrade fee O2/AT&T wants from you. So for the time being you’re stuck with an iPhone 3G.

OK, it’s not like that’s the end of the world, it’s still an incredibly capable device, plays some great games and can use almost all the apps that the 3GS can. But what about those features that set the 3GS apart? Well with a few apps and tweaks you too can get your 3G to do almost all of the new tricks the 3GS has and give your old trusty an extra burst of life.

First up, voice control. There’s not much in the new 3GS has that means it’s the only iPhone capable of using voice control, it’s just that Apple wanted to really set the 3GS apart from the 3G and Original iPhone with some unique features, voice control being one of them. Never fear though, because through the magic of the App Store your 3G or Original can also rock voice control. Vocalia, an app that essentially replicates the control and voice search functions built into the 3GS, is available for the pultry sum of £2.39. Featuring a HAL type eye which acts as your input button and indicator, the app translates your garbled speech into contact names, music tracks or even bookmarks. You can even use it just by lifting the phone to your ear just like the Google search app. With a quick vocalisation you can be calling your mate’s phone, playing an album, individual track or artist or browsing your favourite Geek site, at least that’s the premise.

Does it work? Yes, it does and pretty well. With a bit of prompting you can get it to narrow down and play whatever track you can remember, or pick any contact in your address book and call them. Is it useful? Simply put, No. I’ll elaborate on that a little, it’s as useful as any other speech recognition app for controlling computers or devices. Nine times out of ten, it’s easier and quicker just to reach over and hit a button. The voice control is the same on the 3GS, most people don’t use it because it’s not as quick as using your fingers and therefore is resigned to the ‘gimick’ side of things rather than being a real feature. The only exception I’ve found to the rule is the Google Voice search app, which normally saves me time, but even that I don’t use very often.

So don’t get me wrong, if you’re a fan of voice control then Vocalia works admirably, but I just don’t think it’s useful.

On to the second feature to replicate, Video recording. Now this one’s not quite as simple as just downloading an app. It’s not that it’s hard, but it certainly takes a little longer because to get video recording on your 3G or Original iPhone you have to jailbreak it. OK, before we start on this one, I have to admit I’m a huge fan of quite a few jailbreak only apps and features that Apple simply wouldn’t allow in the App Store. Whilst it is true that jailbreaking makes App Store piracy possible, it’s by no means the sole reason one would jailbreak their iPhone and so it’s unfair to label it with that moniker. With that bit of spiel out the way, I’d like to introduce you to Cycorder. Jay Freeman, the man behind many of the best jailbreak features and functions including Cydia, has authored a nice, free, ad-supported (pretty unobtrusively I might add) video recorder for the Original and 3G. While the quality of the recording is fairly limited by the relatively weak hardware available on the non-3GS iPhones, Cycorder makes the best out of it and in decent lighting you can get pretty good 15fps mobile phone videos out of your iPhone for free. We’re not talking movie quality here, but who really uses their phone for anything more than short clips of your mate bladdered out of his mind with a marker pen all over his face after an epic night out?

There are of course alternatives for pretty much everything on the iPhone and it would be unfair to talk about video recording and not mention Video Recorder for 3G. It’s billed as ‘a powerful iPhone orientated video recorder’ that can record to .mov and upload it to YouTube. Sounds great, but there’s a snag and it’s a pretty hefty $19.95 price tag. For the kind of videos you can actually get out of your iPhone I think $20 is pretty steep, especially when Cycorder gets the job done in a very Apple like, minimal fuss, maximum enjoyment kind of way.

So we come to the final feature that really stands out as being different between the iPhone 3G and the 3GS, the compass. OK, you’ve got a faster processor and slightly (and I mean slightly) better battery life, but the compass is truly something different. Unfortunately this is where software alone cannot make any difference. The onboard compass allows you to know which direction your facing (when it works) in the maps app and here’s where a little dosh can help iPhone 3G users out (sorry Original users I’m afraid the lack of GPS kind of rules you out of this one, mind you I understand raw skyhook isn’t all that bad if you can read road names). For the cost of a cheap cup of coffee, you can purchase yourself a handy dandy Pocket Compass, which combined with the Google Maps app should see you to your destination no problem.

OK, that doesn’t help you out with augmented reality apps I admit, but if you sense of direction is as shocking as mine, a pocket compass can really come in handy for a 3G user like myself. You’ll probably find that a decent pocket compass is going to work better than a magnetometer anyway.

So that’s it, now your iPhone 3G, and to some extent your Original iPhone, has almost feature parity with Apple’s latest and greatest. At least it should help some people stave off the massive upgrade charges that networks are asking for and give your portable friend of choice some extra longevity. Myself, I’m going to hold out till the 4th Gen iPhone gets released because for me, the 3GS was just a spec bump. I’m expecting something bigger out of Apple this time round.

Freddy vs Jason, King Kong vs Godzilla, The Donald vs Rosie. Some of the most recognizable names in history have also sparked some of the greatest rivalries of all time. The engineers at Apple and Microsoft are no different, going toe-to-toe many times over the past few decades. Apple creating their iPod line and Microsoft creating the Zune line. Now the two similar foes do battle in our arena; The Apple iPod touch 32GB vs. The Microsoft Zune HD 32GB.

We’re going to break this down over 4 rounds.

-Features/Screen
-Applications
-User Interface
-Overall

Applications

Round 2: Applications

The iPod touch has over 100,000 applications available for download, they vary in price from free to almost 900$. So far all apps for the Microsoft Zune HD have been free and there’s only a fraction of the total available in the Application store. The Apple iPod touch clearly wins this round, hands down.

Round 3: User Interface

When using both devices, ease of use is incredibly important. The graphical UI on both players is solid, although thumbing through the menu of the Microsoft Zune HD seemed to have just the slightest bit of lag. The Apple iPod touch’s menu is snappy and even when loading heavier apps doesn’t bow down under pressure. The Apple iPod touch barely squeaks out a win in this category.

Round 4: Overall

Both players are well made, well designed, and easy to use. They both have bright futures in the portable media player market. Only one can win though and this contest was incredibly close. While the Zune HD has a superior screen and lots of potential it was marginally beaten out by the iPod touch. Its large amount of apps and content makes it the clear winner. This battle may be over, but the war between portable Microsoft and Apple devices still rages on.

Today has been a day of surprises for Apple aficionados. We’ve already seen the Magic Mouse (yes I know another awful name), but Apple also unleashed bumps and changes to the iMac, Mac Mini and MacBook lines.

First up we’ve got the white polycarbonate (marketing speak for plain old plastic) MacBook, which has gone all ‘unibody’ on us with an integrated ‘7 hour’ battery, LED backlit screen, a multitouch glass trackpad and DDR3. Nothing to shake a stick at, but nothing revolutionary either. I’m suprised anyone still buys these polycarbs considering the ever so appetising 13″ MacBook Pro isn’t all that much more, still each to their own I guess. Next we now have a Mac Mini server, something people have been using the Mini for ever since it’s release, which loses the optical drive in favour of more HDD space and dons OSX server. Aimed at those who aren’t big enough to need an Xserve but still want the Apple server experience, the Mac Mini server I think could do very well. The Mac Mini itself also got a speed bump and storage upgrades so those using it as a media player/server should be happy.

Last but certainly not least for the major upgrades, Apple’s range of consumer desktops got some love. The iMac now encorporates some much more desirable features including an SD card reader (yes, that’s not a typo) and HD+ displays. Gone are the 20″ and 24″ models and in are the 21.5″ and 27″ iMacs. The line can now be configured with a 3.06Ghz Core2Duo (yawn), a 2.66Ghz Core i5 (quad core) or a Core i7, which is where the real fun will be. Still lacking Blu-Ray, the iMacs now feature an optional HDMI input allowing you to use that HD screen for gaming etc. A nice bump if you were about to buy one, but you’re not really missing something if you’ve just bought one.

In other news, the Apple remote got replaced for an aluminium one, which I’m not sure about but I guess it matches all the aluminium used across the rest of the line. The top of the line MacBook Pro got a price cut with the highest spec machine now $1000 cheaper. The Airport Extreme and Time Capsule got full WiFi N certification with 50% improved signal quality and 25% increased range thanks to a new antenna design. Whether the update to the Time Capsule will stop them dropping dead just after warranty is anyone’s guess and we’ll see in a year I suppose.

So if you’re interested in any of the new kit, head on over to your local Apple Store or if you’re in the UK, you might have to wait till tomorrow.

[Via TUAW]

Apple loves their multi-touch technology.  Welcome their newest mouse. Just as I suspected, the age of Apple nipple foundling type mice are gone.  While kind of fun to play with, for some, it had to leave.  Now, scrolling is done just like a trackpad on MacBooks. The mouse also has gesture capabilities for swiping back and forth. It connects via Bluetooth, requires (2) two AA batteries, and costs $69 (by itself or free with a new Mac Mini).  It will be available at the end of this month and would be a great gift to me when I walk up to your door with my candy bag saying “Trick or Apple Multi-Touch Mouse!”

More info at http://www.apple.com/magicmouse/

[via Gizmodo]

Full press release after the break.

Apple Introduces Magic Mouse — The World’s First Multi-Touch Mouse

CUPERTINO, Calif., Oct. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple® today introduced the new wireless Magic Mouse, the first mouse to use Apple’s revolutionary Multi-Touch™ technology. Pioneered on iPhone®, iPod touch® and Mac® notebook trackpads, Multi-Touch allows customers to navigate using intuitive finger gestures. Instead of mechanical buttons, scroll wheels or scroll balls, the entire top of the Magic Mouse is a seamless Multi-Touch surface. Magic Mouse comes standard with the new iMac® and will be available as a Mac accessory at just $69.

“Apple is the Multi-Touch leader, pioneering the use of this innovative technology in iPhone, iPod touch and Mac notebook trackpads,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Apple’s Multi-Touch technology allows us to offer an easy to use mouse in a simple and elegant design.”

Magic Mouse features a seamless touch-sensitive enclosure that allows it to be a single or multi-button mouse with advanced gesture support. Using intuitive gestures, users can easily scroll through long documents, pan across large images or swipe to move forward or backward through a collection of web pages or photos. Magic Mouse works for left or right handed users and multi-button or gesture commands can be easily configured from within System Preferences.

The Magic Mouse laser tracking engine provides a smooth, consistent experience across more surfaces than a traditional optical tracking system. Magic Mouse uses Bluetooth wireless capabilities to create a clean, cable-free desk top and its secure wireless connection works from up to 10 meters away. To extend battery performance, Magic Mouse includes an advanced power management system that works with Mac OS® X to automatically switch to low power modes during periods of inactivity. The wireless Magic Mouse is powered by two AA batteries which are included.

Pricing & Availability
Magic Mouse comes standard with the new iMac and is available at the end of October through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), at Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $69 (US). Magic Mouse requires Mac OS X Leopard® version 10.5.8 or later.

The iPhone Dev-Team have just unleashed their latest update to the custom firmware creation tool for Pwnage Tool 3.1.4. It’s now compatible with iPhone 3.1.2 and supports iPhone 2G/3G/3Gs as well as iPod touch 1G/2G but unfortunately not 3G for all you lucky enough to have the newest touch in your claws. Pwnage Tool is however Mac only and that’s the way it’s going to stay according to the Dev Team, but for all those on Windows boxes there’s always Blackra1n or a mate to help you out.

From the team:

SUMMARY:

The iPhone 3GS is now supported out of the box in PwnageTool 3.1.4 (or if you have upgraded to 3.1.x in iTunes)

The iPod 2G is still supported in PwnageTool 3.1.4 but you must already be jailbroken (we’ll update this if there’s a big demand from non-jailbroken ipt2G owners)

The iPod touch 3G is NOT supported

DETAILS:

GOLDEN RULE: If you are using a iPhone 3G or iPhone 3G(S) with ultrasn0w and rely on ultrasn0w to obtain cellular service then you should only update your device with an .ipsw that is made with the new PwnageTool. There are no second chances with this. You need to remember that PwnageTool will provide an upgrade path to newer versions of the iPhone software in the future.

Please read all parts of this post before downloading and using these tools.

Read items 1, 2 and 3 again and again.

At the bottom of this post are the bittorrent files for the 3.1.4 capable version of PwnageTool.

PwnageTool will work for the iPhone 3GS

PwnageTool will work for the iPod touch 2G

PwnageTool WILL work for Original iPhone (1st Generation), the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3G(S) and the iPod touch (1st Generation and 2nd Generation) but NOT the iPod touch 3rd generation.

For 3G and 3G(S) users who are Pwned, PwnageTool is your key to updating in the future, just remember to never install an update directly from Apple, always use an .ipsw that has been created with PwnageTool.

There is no Windows version of PwnageTool it is a Mac OS X tool only, we are not developing a Windows version of PwnageTool.

So what are you waiting for? Head on over to the iPhone Dev-Team and go get your jailbreak/updating on.

In just a short time, Apple has released an iPhone update.  I didn’t know that some iPhones went into a deep sleep.  I haven’t had much trouble with my iPhone 3GS since I bought it.  Well, maybe some freezing, some audio issues, but nothing a good reboot didn’t fix. I’m glad my phone is working well, because I have still yet to update it from version 3.0.  Like I’ve told my friends and family, I’m not sacrificing my internet tethering ability for some MMS featured that I’ve learned to live without.

If you need/want to upgrade your iPhone’s OS, you now how to do it. If not, open your iTunes, plug in your iPhone and click the iPhone icon.

[via TUAW]

Australia’s largest supermarket chain just got a new logo.  The new look is an apple with a shape of the letter “W”.  If you were to see that logo by itself, would you think “oh, this company sells computers.” In my opinion, no.  But, Apple is the big bully in this story because they are gearing up to sue Woolworths because it looks too much like their own logo.

Really, Apple?! Would you be more happier if the leaf was pointed the other direction? I mean, give them a break.  The artist probably spent a great deal of time getting that logo done.  The logo doesn’t even have a piece of it already eaten.  As much as I love Apple products, (I’m using a MacBook Pro to post this) it sucks to see people getting bullied around for no good reason. So, Apple.  Just stop it. You’re making yourself look bad.

[via Gizmodo]

Along with some other bug fixes and tie-ins to the new features in iTunes 9, the iPhone 3.1 update brought with it some nasty surprises for some users. Reports have been coming in that Apple has enforced the Exchange requirement for on device encryption for those Exchange 2007 SP1 servers that have it enabled. This has meant that the iPhone 3G, which the lacks on device encryption and enhanced security measures implemented on the iPhone 3GS, can no longer connect to Exchange servers that require encryption. Although this looks like a bug to your average user, it’s actually a bug fix as the failure to enforce this on device requirement is actually a security loophole.

Another not so favourable feature of iPhone 3.1 is that it disables the free tethering that was possible with 3.0 and 3.0.1. Strictly it was a breach of terms of contract with your carrier, but many people were enjoying BT or USB tethering without having to fork over more money to the carriers.

So if you fall into either the Exchange 2007 SP1 or tethering group you might want to hold off on 3.1, at least for now. Jailbreakers should also sit tight as updated tools will be required for 3Gers. 3GSers might have a difficult time of it if you don’t have your ECID,iBEC & iBSS files already.

So as you all know, or at least those who are interested know, today held an Apple music event. Rumours were rife, with everything from an iTablet (not yet), Beatles on iTunes, cameras in touches/nanos and the death of the iPod classic amongst other things. As noted before, certain market analysts were speculating about Steve Jobs return to the stage. Well they were spot on as a clearly emotional Steve Jobs addressed an equally emotional audience to talk about his health and the donor register (of which I’ve been a member for years thanks to a special someone in a past life). After the two-way loving was done, Jobs proceeded to confirm and dash rumours and bust out a couple of surprises.

So before you bust a gut, no iTablet, which was a long shot at best for this soon. Look to 2010 for that one. No iPod touch camera either, perhaps due to the rumoured supply problems. The touch does get a storage bump and the now 32Gb and 64Gb models get a spec bump which are ‘50%’ faster. Specifics are lacking right now but it probably puts it in line with the 3GS. Talking of the iPod touch, gaming was at the forefront of the announcement and why shouldn’t it be with games companies falling over each other to get a slice of the market. The supposed death of the iPod classic was also bunk, gaining some more storage to 160Gb and staying at the same price.

The iPod nano, got a lot of love this time round too. Boasting a new camera, microphone, speaker and a larger screen whilst being cheaper and jumping in capacity, the new iPod nano is squarely aimed at the Flip video camera market. Look out for this little beast to be a storm at Christmas. The gym machine that is the iPod shuffle also got a boast with more colours, including stainless steel and settling down with a 2Gb and 4Gb model.

The iPhone and iPod touch also got some software love with 3.1/3.1.1. The update brings video saving from both MMS and email as well as non-destructive video editing on the 3GS. The Genius has been expanded to apps as well as on device purchasing of ringtones and redemption of vouchers and codes within the mobile App Store. Security was also beefed up a bit with anti-fishing precautions in mobile Safari, MobileMe remote locking and bug fixes. Voice control over BT headsets as well as number pasting in the phone app also made the cut. iTunes 9 also made an appearance at the event and brought with it a whole host of small additions and improvements. Syncing with iPhone/touch has been improved including the ability to manage home screens from your computer, which will be a big boon for anyone with a load of apps. Talking of apps, Apple has improved app handling and management within iTunes itself (something I’ve been waiting for ever since the App Store was launched) and the Genius got a DJing feature, ideal for house parties. Home sharing, authorised sharing between computers on your home network, has been implemented meaning you can now download music between computers easily right from iTunes. The rumoured iTunes interactive album media came true with iTunesLP, which brings photos, videos, lyrics and discography with your digital downloads.

Overall there weren’t any major announcements from the line up, but most people will have something new to look forward to with a lot of little and possibly quite influential changes. Least we forget, Steve Jobs is back in the spot light and I for one am pleased that he’s back, it would have been sad for such an aggressive, iconic leader of the company to have just faded into the back drop over health problems.

Coming straight from Steve Job’s mouth (YAY! HES BACK!) during today’s Apple Keynote, the rumors have been confirmed.  To compete against the growing Flip video camera market, Apple has added video recording to their new iPod Nanos as well as FM tuning, a Pedometer (not PEDO – Meter), and Voice recording. Starting today, the 8GB nano will cost $150 while the 16GB comes in at $180. More photos from the keynote after the break.