As you may have heard, it doesn’t seem like Steve Jobs is going to be at WWDC this year in any sort of official capacity. Worse yet, we’re hearing that there will not be any new iPhone hardware at the conference either. That said, something seems like it’s just around the corner and it could be iPhonechromatic.

Should the embedded photograph be believed, it seems that the team from Cupertino is outfitting the iPhone line with a series of different colored cases, not unlike what they do with the iPod nano line. The color options for the “new” iPhones appear to be quite similar to the nano, including blue, purpole, orange, and so on.

It’s not like this is the only way that you can have a colorful iPhone. The guys at ColorWare have been doing this for ages, but their service can prove to be quite expensive. This would be an official solution from Apple and, more likely than not, the bright pink iPhone would not cost any more than the normal black or white one.

Is this picture for real? There’s no way to say for sure and it’s still possible that a new family of iPhones will be revealed at WWDC next month, but we will probably have to hold our breath until at least late-June when Steve Jobs returns from his leave of absence.

As you may have heard, it doesn’t seem like Steve Jobs is going to be at WWDC this year in any sort of official capacity. Worse yet, we’re hearing that there will not be any new iPhone hardware at the conference either. That said, something seems like it’s just around the corner and it could be iPhonechromatic.

Should the embedded photograph be believed, it seems that the team from Cupertino is outfitting the iPhone line with a series of different colored cases, not unlike what they do with the iPod nano line. The color options for the “new” iPhones appear to be quite similar to the nano, including blue, purpole, orange, and so on.

It’s not like this is the only way that you can have a colorful iPhone. The guys at ColorWare have been doing this for ages, but their service can prove to be quite expensive. This would be an official solution from Apple and, more likely than not, the bright pink iPhone would not cost any more than the normal black or white one.

Is this picture for real? There’s no way to say for sure and it’s still possible that a new family of iPhones will be revealed at WWDC next month, but we will probably have to hold our breath until at least late-June when Steve Jobs returns from his leave of absence.

As of today you can point your iPhone to the App Store and download Sling’s place-shifting TV app. After a very long wait, the app finally made it into Apple’s bonanza store, but Sling’s attempt proves to be quite expensive and crippled from birth.

To enjoy place-shifted TV, you must first have a SlingBox (starting at $147) and then purchase the $30 iPhone app. If you count in the cost of your iPhone and call plan and your home broadband access (which you need for the SlingBox), you get a very expensive mobile TV-viewing experience. Oh, and you can do it only via Wi-Fi.

Sling’s iPhone app can play your place-shifted TV only via Wi-Fi, thanks to AT&T, which has a strict no-SlingBox policy. AT&T said in an official statement last night that Sling’s app “could create congestion and potentially prevent other customers from using the network.” On top of that, it’s prohibited under the carriers’ TOS, which considers the iPhone a personal computer.

The Wi-Fi-only TV-watching in Sling for iPhone misses the whole idea of having a phone that can do everything, anywhere (hear that, Skype?). While it’s AT&T’s fault for not allowing SlingPlayer for iPhone to stream via 3G, Sling put out an expensive app out there as well. Meanwhile, BlackBerrys and WinMo phones can enjoy 3G streaming.

SlingPlayer for BlackBerry, Nokia, and Windows Mobile phones has the same price tag as the iPhone counterpart — $30. But the question is whether the crippled iPhone version should cost the same as the other mobile versions, which allow the all-important 3G viewing.

Purely as an iPhone application, SlingPlayer gets the job done. You can quickly move among channels by swiping on the screen and the translucent menus are appealing. On the downside, the app doesn’t take full advantage of the iPhone’s screen, as even in letterbox mode it still displays black bars around all four sides of the picture .

The iPhone Dev-Team says the upcoming iPhone OS 3.0 can be jailbroken but issued a warning to some 3G users eager to get that shiny new copy-paste feature.

Apple unveiled on Tuesday some of what it says will be 100 new features coming to the iPhone and iPod Touch with the new version of the mobile operating system. A beta version was made available immediately to everyone in the iPhone Developer Program, and it didn’t take long for developers to get cracking on iPhone OS 3.0.

The Dev-Team confirmed that the new version is “jailbreakable” on all devices in a blog posted Tuesday. But they said people who’ve already unlocked their 3G devices with Yellowsn0w will run into trouble if they download the 3.0 beta.

This is because Yellowsn0w jailbreak capitalizes on the device’s baseband radio, which is used to link up the device with the network and which will be changed by the iPhone 3.0 update, according to InfoWorld’s Ian Paul. The Dev-Team warns that upgrading to 3.0 with Yellowsn0w installed will cause people to lose Yellowsn0w and will be unable to get it back.

Needless to say, the Dev-Team weren’t the only people tinkering around with the iPhone beta. One developer (via MacRumors) was able to activate the iPhone’s tethering feature via a USB cable. Apple announced on Tuesday that it had built in the capability to tether an iPhone to a laptop via Bluetooth. But the company said it’s up to individual carriers whether they want to make it available on their networks and that the feature wouldn’t be widely available until that happened.

The flight simulator X-Plane is generally acknowledged to be among the best on either a Mac or a PC. Surprisingly, X-Plane [App Store link] made it to the iPhone as one of the first apps available.

That was quite an accomplishment, and while the iPhone version is not as sophisticated as its big brother, it has a lot of the accurate flight physics bundled in to give you a pretty compelling flight simulator experience on your iPhone or iPod touch.

Now, Laminar Research has done it again, bringing a simulation of Chesley Sullenberger’s January 15th USAirways landing in the Hudson River saving all the passengers and crews from what could have been a very deadly accident.

You can relive the experience with Sully’s Flight [App Store link, U.S. $0.99] and you don’t have to even have X-Plane installed to run it.

You start out on Runway 4 at LaGuardia Airport, in similar weather conditions to the real event. You take off, and to follow the original flight path, there are rectangular hoops displayed for you to fly through. To make the sim even more realistic, you get the actual air traffic communication with the stricken airliner. It gives you an appreciation for just how cool Sullenberger was that day, matter-of-factly telling air traffic control he wouldn’t be trying to make a landing at another airport, but was going to land in the Hudson River instead.

I’ve tried the sim a few times, and pretty consistently I land too fast… I need more work on flaps and the aircraft speed when I get closer to the water.

Normally, I might say a game like this is in questionable taste, but it is more a simulation than a game, and, of course, no one was hurt in real life. It would be good to know something about flying before trying this app, because with no engines the plane goes down pretty rapidly. The average person trying it won’t be able to escape the physics of the simulation, so if you’re looking for a full flight sim, this is not for you.

Like all X-Plane products, there will likely be some updates, but I did not see any bugs when running the sim. And remember, Sully’s Flight is not a standard flying game. No matter what you do, you will hit the birds, and your engine will fail, so don’t plan on just flying around Manhattan.

Here is an interesting design concept from designer Eun Seok Huh, the E-Pod. The E-Pod is designed to be the ultimate dock for your iPhone, iPod or iPod Touch, featuring a built in speaker, a movie projector and an alarm clock.

If you’ve been listening to all the clamoring on Twitter, or perhaps have seen the updated Apple page, then you know there was an iPhone event today to discuss a new version of the iPhone OS, version 3.0. While you will have to wait until the summer to get the new version (unless you join the developer program), Apple showed off over 100 new features that we’re all excited about. iPhone developers are also getting some love from Apple with over 1,000 new APIs.

Some of the biggest updates include:

* Push notifications will be standard in iPhone 3.0. Apple claims that there was a scaling issue when they first announced this feature last year, with thousands of developers clamoring to use it, so it had to be delayed. Developers will be able to build message, sound, and badge alerts into their applications.
* iPhone will support cut, copy and paste — copy text and pictures, then paste them in any application on the device. If you change your mind about the newly pasted data, just shake to display a menu asking if you wish to undo the paste.
* In-App purchasing — developers will have the ability to charge a fee from within the application for more levels in a game, magazine subscriptions, eBooks, etc. This solves the problem of the 20 ebook readers that only allow you to read one book each.
* MMS — you’ll be able to use MMS on your iPhone 3G (yes, 1st gen iPhones will not get the fortune of using MMS due to the use of a different cell radio). The new Messages application will be taking the place of the SMS app and will allow you to send voice memos and pictures to your friends.
* Peer-to-Peer connectivity — allows iPhone apps the ability to find other iPhone users over WiFi or Bluetooth. This can be using for anything from gaming to sharing data.
* Third-party Accessories — app developers can now access third-party accessories attached to the iPhone. This could allow for developers to interface with their own accessories to create a truly unique experience on the device. One of the demonstrated uses was a prototype blood glucose meter for the iPhone, from a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, which is already getting attention from our readers; it’s not for sale yet!
* Apple will now be allowing applications the ability to get GPS coordinates from Core Location and turn that into software that provides Turn-by-Turn directions for iPhone users. However, due to the terms of use with Google maps, developers will be required to license their own maps for this use (meaning that Turn-by-Turn GPS applications will almost certainly be paid apps). This isn’t a problem for vendors like TomTom or Telenav, who already have licenses for their map data.
* A landscape keyboard option is now available in all iPhone applications, including the infamous Mail.app.
* Voice memos will allow iPhone users the ability to capture audio and then email it, or send it through the Messages application as a multimedia message.
* System-wide Spotlight searching is built right into the home screen. To the left of the first home screen, there is a magnifying glass, so by flicking to the left of the first home screen will show this search app. You can search for anything, including mail, music, and notes. There is no word yet on how this will interface with third-party applications.
* Stereo Bluetooth audio devices are now supported through the use of A2DP technology.

During a live taping of Diggnation, Kevin Rose revealed details about the expected “Copy and Paste” functionality coming in iPhone 3.0. World of Apple reports on the event with a link to a video of the moment (warning: strong language).

According to Rose, to invoke Copy and Paste, you simply double tap on the word, and a magnifier bubble will appear with two quotes that you can drag around your selection. Once you make your selection, you can copy, paste or cut. Rose has been accurate in the past with details about upcoming Apple product revisions. As well, we have also heard that Copy and Paste will be arriving in 3.0 alongside a much improved homepage/springboard with the ability to organize in categories.

Apple will be revealing iPhone 3.0 in detail on Tuesday, March 17th at a special media event.

Swedish company Mobispine has launched iSendMMS, an application that lets iPhone users send MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) messages, it said on Friday on the company blog.

The application is available via AppStore and costs 49 Swedish kronor (US$5.70). Users will also have to pay the operator MMS tariff for each sent message.

Currently, the application only works in Sweden for users with a SIM card from TeliaSonera, the operator that sells the iPhone. But Mobispine is looking to make it available in other countries, according to Joakim Hilj, corporate vice president of sales at Mobispine.

The company has been in discussions with other operators since November, when the application was ready. Since then it has been working on the long process of getting the application approved by Apple, Hilj said. Receiving Apple’s approval will open the door for a launch in other countries, according to Hilj, who isn’t ready to say when that will happen.

ISendMMS only supports the sending of MMS messages, but the plan is to also add support for receiving messages, according to Hilj. For that to be possible the Mobispine platform has to be connected with the operator’s existing MMS equipment, and it would also makes sense to use the Apple notification API (application programming interface) when released, he said in the company blog.

Mobispine isn’t a newcomer in the messaging market. It currently sells software to operators that let users send SMS (Short Message Service) and MMS messages from a PC. Mobispine says it has 25 operators using the platform, including O2 and Vodafone.

Live TV is coming to the iPhone and iPod Touch via Wi-Fi with the announcement by MobiTV and CBS Sports that they will stream live video of the NCAA March Madness tournament to users who buy a $4.99 application from the Apple iTunes App Store.

The application’s official name is “CBS Sports Mobile: NCAA March Madness On Demand.”

MobiTV already supplies live TV over cellular airwaves to many handsets in the United States but not to the iPhone, a spokesman said. “This is a first, real live-TV app for the iPhone and iPod Touch,” the spokesman stressed.

“MobiTV is making significant steps in bringing its flagship MobiTV service to the iPhone [via cellular],” he added.

The MobiTV-powered Wi-Fi application will feature live Wi-Fi video of all 63 games of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship from March 19 through April 6. Live audio of each game, however, can be streamed via the iPhone’s cellular 3G and EDGE technologies as well as live updates, stats and video-on-demand highlights of games.

The application delivers a “clickable” tournament bracket showing all tournament teams and allows users to touch any current game to launch live TV of the game.