Via CNNMoney.com:

IPhone users can now legally hack their phones to download applications that aren’t in Apple’s App Store.

The U.S. Copyright Office, a division of the Library of Congress, has authorized several new exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), one of which will allow mobile phone users to “jailbreak” — or hack into — their devices to use apps not authorized by the phone’s manufacturer. The new rules will be published on Tuesday in the Federal Register.

Jailbreaking iPhones in order to download apps that are unavailable in Apple’s App Store had been a legal gray area: Apple technically had the right to request a $2,500 government fine for damages every time a user violated the law that bans “circumvention of technological measures” controlling access to copyrighted works — in this case, the iPhone’s iOS software.

I’m glad that the government made the correct decision.  Sure, the warranty is void if you do so, and they’ll continue to try to prevent it (and spend a lot of money doing so in a losing effort), but that’s a public step in the right direction.  In my opinion, you should be allowed to do whatever you want to with any device that you purchase.

Via the WSJ:

Consumer Reports said its tests show a hardware defect causes the iPhone 4 to lose reception when held a certain way, challenging Apple Inc.’s claims that the problem is rooted in software that can be easily fixed.

The product-quality watchdog said Monday it can’t recommend the newest iPhone despite otherwise high marks, dinging a company that for many shoppers can do no wrong. It was the first time Consumer Reports has failed to give the thumbs up for an Apple phone.

…

Consumer Reports took some of the heat away from AT&T Inc.’s network, which has been criticized for dropped calls and not being able to adequately handle the load of data-guzzling iPhones.

Full story

The iPhone isn’t perfect? Really?  Well, I’m glad that we can now add it to the list of every other piece of hardware.

While the iPhone may have its software issues, I can say without a doubt that AT&T’s cell coverage is horrible.  I can’t count the times that I’m somewhere around Indy, even in my downtown office late at night, and either the phone drops out or I can’t get data to come through at all (I have a Blackberry Bold). And forget about trying to get a decent & consistent connection at a major event or an amusement park.  It’s not happening.

I can vouch that back when I had my non-3G Palm the service was better.  When I switched to my BlackBerry service was decent as well.  But by the time the iPhone market began to overwhelm AT&T it was really bad (they claim NYC is ready for the iPhone now…I wouldn’t hold my breath).

All of that to say, once my contract is up I’m planning on heading elsewhere. Someone that has decent service & isn’t going to start charging me outrageous fees for data usage (on top of an already expensive plan).  I don’t have time to worry about how much data I’m using and I’m sure not going to pay for data that only half way transferred because the network is choking on the data that’s trying to flow through it.

On Monday Barnes & Noble cut the price of its Nook e-reader to $199 and Amazon.com cut the price of its standard Kindle to $189. Both models had been $259.

While I still don’t see myself buying one of these at this price, I’d lean towards the Nook since it does have removable storage. BUT, and this is a huge but, there are major issues across the board as far as format standards go (I believe it was the WSJ that had a great explanation of this) & the whole DRM nonsense must go.

Personally I’d really like a full color screen option, but for multiple reasons there’s no way I’d purchase an iPad (at least not as it stands now).  But I am glad to see technology moving along and hope everyone can get on the same page in the next 5 years or so.

While people drool over the glorified netbook/tablet PC  known as the Apple iPad, a.k.a. the overgrown iTouch, I think Shania Twain sums it up best. “That Don’t Impress Me Much”.

I’ve heard people talking about Twitter for months now and I’ve looked at Twitter before and just didn’t “get it”.   But I finally broke down and registered an account to figure out first hand what the big deal is about Twitter.  From what I can see, you just post little snippets like what you’re doing, a link, some random thought or whatever else you want (limited to 140 characters) via their website or your cell phone (sms — text message).  I can see some personal uses for something like that, but am still  undecided on the usefulness of informing people what I ate for breakfast (that sounds like a great way to get a stalker, right?).

Anyway, we’ll see how my “Twittering” goes and I’ll subscribe to the Twitter blog to get some ideas.  If you’ve had experience with Twitter, I’d love to hear your stories and take on it.

Birthday present idea #1…

As I was looking through my Taser news alerts this morning (yes, I have a Taser news alert…if you have to ask why, you need to listen to some episodes of Utter Oddcast), I saw a post on the LA Times site about the new Taser MPH which is a version of the C2 Taser that has a 1GB MP3 built in.

I think I need one of these before some throws a fit and they’re pulled off of the shelves.  Apparently they only offer a semi-manly version which comes in red.  But hey, it’s still a Taser and I can paint it, right?