If you are always on the move and you own an iPhone, well, you could surely use the new application HearPlanet which literally transforms your iPhone into a talking tour guide. Released on Christmas Eve in Apple’s iTunes App Store, HearPlanet quickly climbed into the top ten on Apple’s list of paid Travel applications and is available for $3.99.

According to HearPlanet, the application with the same name contains audio tours of over 230,000 locations. HearPlanet uses your iPhone’s location awareness to find places of interest near you. If you select a city, for example, HearPlanet will tell you about the museums, stadiums, zoos, and other landmarks or popular attractions that are around you.

If you are wondering where all the information is coming from, well most of the entries match the information in Wikipedia. So, when you choose a topic, HearPlanet loads a screen with both text and audio of the Wikipedia article in question.

HearPlanet also offers a search option in which you can enter a search topic and location. Another interesting feature is that when you tap the play button HearPlanet switches to speaker mode enabling you to share the information you’re getting.

Integration with maps and phone numbers would definitely be a great addition in time. The company promises that new cool features are being continually added. Naturally, if you get the app now, future updates will be available to you for free.

This year, Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing delivered the keynote address at Macworld 2009. Surprisingly, there was very little news on the iPhone front with no new iPhone announcements contrary to speculations prior to the event.

SwitchEasy has released RebelSerpent, the latest case for iPhone 3G. The new iPhone case is based on the company’s well-known CapsuleRebel case.  

It is a hybrid case featuring a inner layer made of Adaptive Dynamic Soft Polymer (ADSP) and a Lexan polycarbonate “UltraFrame” that attaches to the outside of the ADSP shell. But unlike the smooth surface of CapsuleRebel’s shell the RebelSerpent’s offers a faceted, diamond-shaped texture for added grip.  

It also features tactile covers for the device’s buttons, and comes with  

- Two anti-static screen guards,

- A microfiber cleaning wipe,

- A Universal Dock Adapter,

- A video dock stand,

- A Dock Connector protector.  

The SwitchEasy RebelSerpent for iPhone 3G is available now and sells for $27.

Free money management web based service Mint.com has released their own mobile application for Apple iPhone users. The application enables users to monitor and track bank accounts from their handsets.

Similar to its online site, Mint’s iPhone app allows users to view balances, monitor budgets and check their net worth in real-time. In the event that an iPhone is lost or stolen, Mint.com has a feature which disables mobile access to the online account. 

– Your finances while traveling.
– Status on spending versus personalized budgets, and cash flow.
– Your investment performance, distributions and dividends.
–Alerts on bills due, unusually large expenses and deposits.

But because of the sensitive nature of the information, Mint recommends that users password-protect their mobile units. The service is now the top finance offering in the App Store, the company reports.

With the iPhone app, Mint delivers the same simple yet powerful experience you get from their web service — right to your cellphone. During this busy, festive season discover the comfort and joy of having access to your financial information anywhere, anytime.

Until now, neither Apple nor AT&T has sold the iPhone 3G online. Without much hullabaloo, Apple has quietly made the iPhone available online. You can now order an iPhone online from AT&T. The company is allowing customers the option of ordering an iPhone 3G on their store website for home delivery.

An iPhone 3G:

 - Is available in either 8GB or 16GB black/white configurations 

 - 8GB phone is being sold for $199US 

 - 16GB phone is being sold for $299US 

That’s not all. AT&T is also offering to revamp your existing iPhones starting at $149 for an 8GB model.

You can visit the AT&T online store for more information and ordering details.

However, don’t confuse this with activation. This means you only pay for the iPhone over the Internet and have it delivered to your front door. What Apple needs to do now is to pick up this challenge and allow online ordering along with activation.

This could potentially expand the market for the iPhone, as it could open the market for thousands of store-shy customers who are usually avid online users.

I think there must be a change in the way music is created and sold on the internet for this generation. Apple started the iTuens / iPod movement and it’s been very successful ever since.

An interesting iLounge article below:

The Recording Industry Association of America has announced that it is planning to end its tactics of suing individual users who are caught sharing music online. According to the Wall Street journal, the RIAA has opened legal proceedings against roughly 35,000 people since 2003, which has done little to stop the illegal downloading of music over the Internet. Instead of lawsuits, the group has instead made preliminary agreements with major ISPs under which users caught uploading music illegally will receive emails from the service provider asking them to stop, possibly accompanied by a degradation in connection speed. Should the user continue to illegally upload music, the ISP could eventually decide to cut off their access altogether. The ISPs with which the RIAA has already reached agreements have not yet been named.

• The target release date for the unlock is New Year’s Eve 2008.
• This unlock method is available to iPhone 3Gs that have 2.11.07 baseband or earlier, we did warn you.
• The unlock requires a jailbroken 3G iPhone.

It’s Official from the iPhone Dev Team

3G Unlock

We have been working hard on a few other things. The main one being the 3G unlock codenamed “yellowsn0w”. This is now completed and is currently being packaged into a user-friendly application with the simplicity that you see in QuickPwn or BootNeuter.

• * The target release date for the unlock is New Year’s Eve 2008. * This unlock method is available to iPhone 3Gs that have 2.11.07 baseband or earlier, we did warn you. * You can tell what version baseband you have by going to Settings->General->About->Modem Firmware * The unlock requires a jailbroken 3G iPhone. It’ll be installable via Cydia and so it doesn’t matter if you have a Mac or PC. * Please refrain from updating your baseband, regardless of what version you’re at. We’ll have complete directions on New Year’s Eve. * We’ll stream a live demo of the unlock before Christmas (see the update at the end of this post)

DFU Issues in OS X 10.5.6

Lots of users have been experiencing problems with the use of DFU mode after applying yesterday’s 10.5.6 system update.

We believe this behavior is due to a kernel bug not a specific countermeasure by Apple. Possible fixes are (try at your own risk!) -

1. Replace the following plugin kexts from within IOUSBFamily.kext with the ones from 10.5.5 and then rebuild kextcache (if you don’t understand this, then you shouldn’t attempt it!)

/System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleUSBHub.kext

/System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/IOUSBCompositeDriver.kext

1. Use a USB hub in-between the DFU device and the Mac and insert/reinsert the iPhone’s USB cable.

2. Use a PwnageTool created .ipsw on Windows! Oh the irony!