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Do you want Skype on your iPhone? Well, you're in luck. Shape Services has launched a version of Skype for the iPhone, no hacking required.

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It seemed like a stupid question -- one which deservedly got a heaping helping of ridicule from Mac bloggers: Why doesn't Apple participate in the "Intel Inside" marketing program, earning the company big wads of cash just for putting a tiny little sticker on Macs?

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Everybody knows Napster was a disaster for the music industry. But Cory Doctorow demonstrates that what everyone knows is false. In fact, Cory argues, Napster could have been wonderful for the music industry, and shutting Napster down was a blunder which will prove fatal. What's worse, Hollywood will likely repeat history with YouTube.

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Apple's announcement this week of new iMacs, software, and services strikes at the Windows platform's core strengths. The new generation of iMacs, priced starting at $1,199, compete on price/performance with midrange PCs. And Apple rounded out its iWork suite with the Numbers spreadsheet software and other capabilities, making it a head-to-head competitor with Microsoft Office.

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The iPhone is officially a "closed" architecture, meaning only Apple, and people with Apple's blessing, can write applications for it. In reality, the platform is anything but closed, as industrious hackers have dug into its software guts and figured out how to run applications, , including Nintendo games, on it.

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What's Apple got up its sleeve for its Tuesday announcement? Apple blogs say the company plans to unveil sleeker iMacs and possibly an upgrade to the .Mac service, and that Apple plans a new flash-based video iPod next month.

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One intrepid iPhone fan has posted a guide to unlocking the iPhone. Engadget claims to have spotted a process that, frankly, looks really long and more than a little scary. Does it actually work?

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Demonstrating that the spirit of investigative journalism is not dead, Dateline did an expose about how, if you leave your iPod lying around unattended in public, it'll get stolen. I'm sure there's a Pulitzer Prize in this for Dateline. Because we could never have figured that out on our own.

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Yesterday I pointed out that the Google Phone has returned to the rumor mill. This morning The Wall Street Journal reported that Google is working on a cell phone but has declined to comment on the project. Looks like this dog will hunt.

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Unstrung editor Dan Jones today pointed out that Google is hiring for lots of wireless and mobile positions. One of those job ads is for a candidate with "a thorough understanding of the mobile vertical – both from a carrier and a handset OEM perspective." Why does Google need to hire someone with knowledge of handset manufacturers?

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As you may recall, I finally snagged an iPhone a few weeks ago. At the time, I was less than pleased with my experience. I had problems syncing my iPhone with my PCs. Many of you wrote in with some advice on how to better connect my Jesus-phone with my laptop and desktop. While I appreciated your help, it wasn't enough. After 10 days, I returned my iPhone.

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Here in America, we have our share of stupid journalism, but we have trouble competing in the global market. For evidence, I point you to an article in The Australian about terrorists in Second Life.

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Microsoft has been saying there is no trial version of a Service Pack 1 for Vista, but Ars Technica reports that The World's Largest Software Company has released a "sneak peek" of several patches on its Windows Connect download service for beta testers of Windows Server 2008 -- but the patches are intended for Vista as well.

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For the geek who has everything: An 18K gold iPod Nano, with accompanying golden docking station, remote control, and earbuds. The vendor, Xexoo, removes the case of the device, and replaces it with one made from 100 g of gold.

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Japan's No. 2 carrier, KDDI, today said it plans to offer a new mobile e-mail service powered by Google's Gmail. This is the latest in a long line of Google-related mobile announcements. While Google's mobile onslaught continues, this question remains: Just how successful are the search giant's efforts?

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Here are some of the best information, tips, and links about the HarryPotter-phone. Learn how to troubleshoot problems, customize ringtones, use non-Apple headphones with the iPhone, and more.

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Imagine you're on the final legs of a never-ending road trip. You arrive at the 100th client meeting that week to deliver the PowerPoint you slaved over for weeks. Just as you set up, the projector in the room goes dead. What do you do? Why not use the projector on your smartphone?

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AT&T yesterday reported robust early sales for the iPhone -- but not robust enough. Investors expected more, and the price of Apple stock dropped as a result. But the figures represent a single datapoint, with no bearing on the long-term outlook for the iPhone.

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Like to have an iPhone of your own, but think they're too expensive? You can wait until the price comes down. (We'll call this the "less desirable" or "not crazy") option. Or you can do as these hobbyists have done and make your own, from paper or from sand.

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Like our reviewer John Welch, I've been living with the iPhone since it first came out, so I was very eager to read his in-depth review of the device "Review: Two Weeks With An iPhone," which was a follow-up to my earlier iPhone review, written after living with the device for just one weekend.

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After weeks of waiting, I finally got my hands on my very own iPhone. Playing with my iPhone has been so much more satisfying than using my neighbor's iPhone. I have one big problem with my new toy, though. It doesn't sync very well with my personal PC.

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Why shell out big bucks for a real iPhone, Nintendo, or Ferrari, when a homemade replica that you knit or sew is just as good in every way? Except of course, for the minor point of being completely useless?

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You don't have many IT-manager action heroes in science fiction. Sure, you have a lot of hackers, breaking into networks and subverting authority. But not a lot of science-fiction heroes save the universe in between staff meetings, working the help desk, and rebooting the file server.

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Turning down or off the display isn't just a matter of saving energy for Mother Earth. It is also necessary to produce a condition known to interior designers as "darkness." And the iMac, for some reason, lacks that most simple of hardware amenities: An on-off switch that controls just the display.

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The news that Intel will launch its fastest quad-core processor yet, the 3.0-GHz Core 2 Extreme QX6850, comes just as a bruising price war is beginning between the chip behemoth and its smaller rival, AMD.

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Intel has sent a message to its 130,000+ resellers and white-box builders, informing them that it will cut the prices of its still-new, quad-core processors next week. From all appearances, the move is the chip giant's way of returning fire in a price war initiated by AMD.

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I've been trying to make sense out of the new Version 3 of the General Public License and I've got to tell you, I can't yet. All I can see is that (1) in the short term, the GPLv3 has turned Microsoft's deal with Novell into a hairball Redmond is trying to cough up; (2) further out, unless the two ayatollahs of open source, Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds, kiss and make up, either Linux or the GPLv3 (or both) is dead, and (3) in the long run IBM's move to create a lawsuit-free zone with license terms for its patents just might provide an alternative. [This entry has been corrected.]

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Smartphones are the multi-tools of electronic gadgetry. I used to use my Palm Treo as a memo pad, storage device for my electronic passwords, shopping list, and of course an Internet access device and PDA. That kind of versatility is the iPhone's big lack. It's great at what it does, but you can't even transfer memos from the iPhone to your desktop.

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Prior to the launch of the iPhone in the U.S., there was speculation that the slow data speeds of AT&T's EDGE network could impact sales of the iPhone. Obviously, that didn't happen. Now it's seems almost certain that the iPhone will launch in Europe, with rumors of an announcement next week in London. There is one catch. It appears that the European edition of the iPhone will also run on EDGE. This could raise a problem since there is very little EDGE coverage in Europe. So what networks will the European iPhone use?

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Earlier this week my colleague Richard Martin blogged about a possible iPhone launch in Europe. His post was triggered in part by a set of rumors that claim Steve Jobs has been hanging around London, especially in the Apple store. What's Steve up to?

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Apple is white-hot. Mac sales are outstripping Windows at a time when rival Microsoft is stumbling with Vista. iTunes has roared into the marketplace to become the third-largest music retailer in the U.S. And then there's this thing called the "iPhone" -- perhaps you've heard of it?

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This just in to our All-iPhone-All-The-Time Desk: If you were bummed because you couldn't run Skype on your iPhone, weep no more. There's a work-around-around. You can install and run SoonR Talk, an AJAX app that works on the Opera Mobile browser version 8.6 (which you presumably also have to install and run) on your iPhone. At least that's Tom Keating's story in his VoIP & Gadgets Blog entry on TMCnet, and he's sticking to it.

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When it comes to social networking, it seems everyone is obsessed with Facebook. The big meme du jour is that Facebook will soon surpass MySpace as the biggest social networking site on the Web. Frankly, I don't think this is an interesting question. Regardless of who wins this race, both sites have amazing growth numbers and don't seem poised for a downturn anytime soon. The more interesting question is this: Will Facebook kill LinkedIn to become the primary career networking site on the Web?

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Somehow, I utterly failed to snag an iPhone. On the fated date of June 29, I waited in line at several AT&T stores as well as one Apple store, but to no avail. While everyone else in the mobile blogosphere played with their iPhones, I waited and sulked with envy. In fact, I am still waiting. I have one on order and soon I will taste the sweet, sweet joys that come from owning the it phone of 2007. However, I did get my hands on one last night. So now I get to tell you about the first eight things I did with it.

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I've seen fire and I've seen rain. And now after watching videotape of the "Will It Blend?" guys dismantling an iPhone, I've seen a good waste of $500.

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Second Life is still growing -- it's just growing at a slower rate than it was. Total signups grew at a rate of 12.6% in June, down from 15% in May. Growth in premium accounts -- accounts people pay to use -- was 5.3%, down from 8.1% in May. Is this a temporary lull? Or a sign of coming doom?

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Seniors learn to use e-mail at the Tunbridge, Vt., public library. This video comes from librarian/bloggger Jessamyn West, who also created the cutest video on installing Ubuntu Linux done by a librarian in Washington, Vt., that you ever saw.

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My recent blog post, How To Crash Windows Vista In 10 Seconds Or Less, provoked a firestorm of responses, mostly from people calling me an idiot for daring to suggest that the operating system shouldn't tank if you persist in holding down the Windows key and the letter "E." That sequence will open up Windows Explorer windows ad infinitum and in short order your system will stop responding.

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"Recieved" was the giveaway; one of the few spelling rules I've retained is "I before e, except after c." So when I my e-mail read, "You have recieved A Hallmark E-Card," I was immediately suspicious. The random capitalization made me wary, too.

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The novelist John Irving made that observation years ago about the VCR, and each generation of video technology brings watching and reading closer together, making video more private and more under the user's control.

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This journal of my Friday-night search for an iPhone has everything you look for in summer entertainment: suspense, fast driving, crime, sex, Eastern mysticism, finance, humor, and adventure.

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The iPhone is a stylish gadget, but it kowtows to the established telecom industry, Slate Magazine argues. But Slate dangles an intriguing possibility as an afterthought: Is the iPhone a Trojan horse?

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Correspondent Rob Riggle will do anything to get his hands on an iPhone in this funny, raunchy short video.

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Yes, there's a lot of hype about the iPhone. Yes, it's a very expensive piece of equipment. But neither of those things really matter. The only thing that really matters is: How good is it?

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Are you desperate to see how well the iPhone is coming out in early reviews? Do you need a comprehensive scorecard? Well, look no more.

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Wired has the breakdown: The 8-Gbyte iPhone for $599, plus $36 activation fee, plus $220 a month for the highest-priced, highest-usage plan. The 4-Gbyte iPhone with the basic plan, at $60 a month, adds up to about $2,000 over two years.

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Daring Fireball has been doing some deliciously vicious rebutting of negative reporting on the iPhone. Here, he goes after an article in the New York Times.

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It's just one week until the launch of the iPhone and to mark the final seven days of waiting, Apple has released a Web-based "guided tour" designed to further whet the appetites of Macheads around the world.

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The late-night mock shock jock interviews Will Schwalbe, co-author of Send: The Essential Guide To E-Mail For Office And Home. "I spend most of my time e-mailing drunk. ... Could that come back and bite me in the *** one day?"

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We're not at war with France, at least not the last time I checked, but that doesn't mean that the French want their state secrets coursing through the U.S. telecommunications infrastructure, courtesy of French government officials addicted to les BlackBerrys. Sure, BlackBerrys come with built-in encryption, but is that enough when you really, really don't want anyone to get their hands on the information you're carrying around?

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