The day we all hoped would never come has arrived and we bid you farewell Steve...

Your life has impacted ours in a profound way; even though you may no longer physically be with us, you will always form the fabric of our world.

Thank you for leaving your "dent in the universe".

Until recently iPhone users were quite happy with the native Apollo IM application. Apollo was a great application for iPhone users to connect to AIM, ICQ, MSN and .Mac. However, of late Apollo has been riddled with authentication errors and instability woes and iPhone users once again have had to resort to Googling the next best thing.

Fortunately, there is an answer. Several actually... but unlike Apollo, these solutions come in the form of real-time online IM's built specifically to fit the iPhone screen. You simply launch Safari on your iPhone and enter the URL of the various providers, key in your IM details and you'll find yourself chatting to your mates on your favourite IMs again. No fuss.

Here's a list of URLs to get you started on your iPhone's Safari, listed in descending order of our preference:

• www.meebo.com
• http://m.ebuddy.com or;
• take a look at the Beejive instant messenger on the go beta

Diagram 1.0, Meebo IM on iPhone

Google has released its so-called 'instant messenger' (IM) for the iPhone. Unlike the popular native iPhone IM, Apollo, GoogleTalk for iPhone runs off the Safari browser on your iPhone.

Closing the browser in the middle of a chat sets your GoogleTalk mode to "unavailable". Its a first step for Google which is after the advertising potential but what we're wondering is when Apple's going to take a stab at porting the ever popular iChat onto the iPhone platform.

To use GoogleTalk on your iPhone, launch your Safari browser and go to http://www.google.com/talk.

Related Articles:

• iPhone | Multi-Client IM on iPhone

This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

Hot off the press from Cupertino, Apple has officially announced that, "In the US the new iPhone 3G is priced at a stunning $199 for the 8GB model, and just $299 for the 16GB model.** iPhone 3G will be available in more than 70 countries later this year, beginning with customer availability in 22 countries—Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the US—on July 11."

Staggered launches are expected to follow until Apple covers its intended target of 70 countries worldwide.

And although there has not been any official date set, in Singapore, Singtel, has put up a teaser page on its web site inviting early reservations of the iPhone 3G which is anticipated to reach the island by the end of this year.

Until Skype themselves builds an application that sits directly inside the iPhone, there is an alternative to utilise Skype on your iPhone.

What is needed, is to simply to direct your iPhone's Safari browser to www.s4.iphone.com, fill in the appropriate login details at the login page and you're in!


It may not look exactly like Skype on your computer but it works for now.

Diagram 1.0 IM for Skype inteface

Aside from some other obvious limitations on the iPhone, unlike its 'regular' cell phone cousins, it also does not allow you to archive your SMS messages to your SIM card. Fair enough if it cannot sync the SMS messages to you Mac because even most 'regular' cell phones can't do it without the assistance of some third party application but not even being able to save SMS messages to your SIM card?

Enter Micromat's Syphone, currently in version 0.99b11 which can still be downloaded for FREE. Syphone is simple utility that allows iPhone users to view, save, and back up their SMS messages.

Syphone can be used to save, archive and view SMS messages from your iPhone on your Mac, even the ones that have been deleted from your iPhone.

Among some of the key features included in Syphone are as mentioned below, as stated on Micromat's website:

• View synced iPhone SMS messages on your Macintosh
• Archive SMS messages
• Import/export SMS messages
• View SMS messages offline in an iChat-like interface with selectable colors
• Open Address Book contacts
• View the number of sent and received messages for each contact
• Supports multiple iPhones

And if that's not enough to make you drool, check out the neat hybrid Address Book and iChat-like interface that allows you to browse your archived SMS messages:

Diagram 1.0, Syphone's cool interface makes browsing archived SMS messages a fun affair

Its strongly recommended to download Syphone now whilst its still freeware, before Micromat releases a 'professional' edition where Syphone users have to pay for the application.

With the world in anticipation of the eventual global release of the iPhone, some antsy users in parts of the world where the Mac phone has yet to be released have no option but to hack away at the Mac wonder.

This leaves those users with a warranted reason to hack the iPhone at all but what about the rest of us? Does hacking the iPhone make for a 'better' phone?

At the moment, Apple Inc has locked down the iPhone's ability to install and run third party applications; making the iPhone effectively a "what you see, is what you get" device.

According to the public relation reports that Apple has released over the past months, Apple is preparing to make its telco wonder a little more 'Open Source' but that is scheduled only in late February 2008. Even now, an unofficial release of an ancillary application (OktoPrep) to support future third party applications has already been cut loose and is rife in the iPhone hacking community.

In the mean time, iPhone owners who are keen on having more applications than the standard have to hack away.

23 July 2007, eWeek.com reports that a security firm has successfully run the first remote exploits on Apple's feverishly sought after iPhone. From the extensive testing carried out on the iPhone, its been discovered that the adored iPhone is not only vulnerable to data theft but can also be turned into a remote snooping device.

Other than the ability to extract data, among some of the more worrisome exploits demonstrated included the potential for would-be iPhone hackers to remotely turn your iPhone into a recording device that could record audio that could be later transmitted to the malicious party, as well as forcing the iPhone into performing other physical actions which included dialing phone numbers and sending out SMS text messages.

In their data extraction exploit tests, the security firm managed to extract personal data, including SMS text messages, contact information, call history, voice mail information, passwords, e-mail messages and browsing history.

According to the eWeek.com report, such exploits were possible owing to the manner which Apple's popular Safari browser technology has been implemented on the iPhone platform, as well the iPhone's OS X nature, to run all important processes with administrative privileges. Leaving the iPhone wide open to exploit once, a would-be hacker compromises any application on the iPhone.

Most of the remote exploits that infiltrated the iPhone required duping the iPhone owner into surfing onto a maliciously crafted web site that downloaded exploit code that forced the iPhone to make an outbound connection to the server controlled by the security firm.

This discovery may well quell, the need for corporate IT departments to raise more complicated justifications against the incorporation of the iPhone platform into the corporate connectivity market. Although, the security firm has reported these exploits to Apple Inc, the Cupertino iPhone maker has yet to issue an official statement on the matter.

Read the full article, here.

When Second Life was first launched in 2003, its client application only supported Windows rigs. Recently, Second Life now supports Mac OS X 10.4.3, which shouts some what of the ever increasing Mac installbase. Other platforms supported include Linux.

Second Life, is a 3D virtual realm and unlike common online games, its existence serves to emulate real life and provide a truly 'global village', where people from all over can meet and get to know another in a 3D rendition of real life. More than that, Second Life also includes the added dimension of commerce, where some real people have downed their entire life savings to invest in virtual real estate within Second Life. Collecting rent and carrying out commerce.

• Internet Connection*: Cable or DSL
• Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4.3 or better
• Computer Processor: 1.25 GHz G4 or better
• Computer Memory: 768MB or better
• Video/Graphics Card**: nVidia GeForce FX 5600, GeForce 6600, or better OR ATI Radeon 9600, X600, or better

You'll need to download the Mac OS X Second Life client, register at the Second Life site, and you're on your way to your virtual existence. Signing up entitles you to join, the over 7 million other registered Second Life citizens.

Still staring blankly? - "what is Second Life?"