Technology is now becoming an increasingly important part of human life. Not only does it provide important uses for our infrastructure, but technologies such as the mobile phone, are also becoming important devices for socializing. With the advent of the iPhone in 2007, the purpose and capabilities of basic mobile phones have now increased dramatically. The iPhone, produced by Apple, was one of the first mobile phones that provided consumers with a phone that could handle a variety of everyday tasks in one device.

Previous to the iPhone, most mobile phones were designed with the main purpose of suiting the network carrier. They were often quite simple in there design and there price would reflect the lack of features it incorporated. However, ever since the production of the iPhone, this has changed significantly. Now the majority of mobile phones are produced with the customer in mind, and are being specifically produced to aid the consumer rather than the network carrier. While this means handsets are becoming more expensive, mobile phones like the iPhone have many benefits.

The most recent release of the iPhone, the iPhone 3G, has three main features including a stylish mobile phone, widescreen iPod, and one of the best Wireless-WiFi internet connections available on a mobile phone. With its revolutionary touch-screen technology, the iPhone 3G is able to make calls as quick as a tap. It’s compatibility with most PC’s, including the Mac, also allows you to download contacts quickly and easily. The accessibility of the iPhone G3 also makes it simpler to listen to voicemail messages than ever before.

Because the iPhone 3G is able to function as an iPod and a fast 3G internet browser, this mobile phone has many advantages over traditional mobile phones. The fact that the iPhone 3G is able to download numerous applications from the Apple App Store also makes this one of the most adaptable phones on the market. The best thing about the iPhone applications are, that there are many useful Apps available for download that are absolutely free. The Weather Channel and Urbanspoon Apps are prime examples, and allow you to keep up-to-date with the most recent weather forecasts and find local places to eat which match your budget.

As well as providing useful everyday applications, the iPhone 3G can also be a useful tool for doctors. The Epocrates App is a perfect example of how the iPhone 3G might provide a useful tool for medical professionals. Epocrates provides iPhone users with a huge medical database. Providing extensive details on drugs, dosing, and prices, it is an extremely useful application for all medical staff and students. Of course, there is plenty more medical reference Apps being made available everyday on the iPhone 3G.

Rather than just being a device which can provide useful everyday benefits such as weather forecasts, the iPhone 3G is now providing many practical applications for countless professionals which have huge potential for the medical field. Thanks to the iPhone 3G’s powerful ARM processor, and huge capacity of up to 16GB memory, they are the perfect device for countless tasks. Therefore, it is no wonder that the iPhone 3G is one of the World’s most popular multi-task mobile phones.

Sometimes radiologists get bored, sometimes the day a the office is a little slow -  so what would happen if you put an iPhone under a CT scanner? That’s exactly what a New York radiologist did, and not only was it with an iPhone, but a Palm, iBook, and a few other electronics.

We’re not sure this is the best use of your time at the office, but it sure looks pretty cool. You can check out all of his scans at the website: radiology art.

No, it’s not Walmart with these cheap iPhones, but rather AT&T. How is AT&T offering these cheap iPhones? Well they’re refurbs.

$99 Walmart iPhone rumors have been dominating the Internet for the past month, with the final word saying that the rumors were false. Anyone who had their sights set on a cheap iPhone shouldn’t lose hope though. AT&T is now offering refurbished 3G iPhones at super low prices with a 2 year contract. It’s not a bad deal either considering that the phones still have a 90 day warranty and were lightly used beforehand (from previous owners in a 30 day trial period). Read the complete description of the refurbished phones here.

These deals on refurb iPhones will last until December 31.

Here’s how the prices stack up:

• iPhone 3G 8GB Black - $99US
• iPhone 3G 16GB Black - $199US
• iPhone 3G 16GB White - $199US

Find them on the AT&T website under refurbished phones.

Via TUAW

Going along with rumors going around during the week IDealsChina has posted pictures online about the supposed new iPhone Nano.

IDealsChina claims that they got the latest news from third party suppliers around the world, which would be very reliable sources since they would be producing accessories for the yet to be released product.

Here is an excerpt from a recent post on their site:

No more speculating, the new iPhone is a  Nano Phone ! We just got these images of a silicone case design by www.XSKN.com for the new  iPhone Nano. This case is in production. We are not sure when they will release it on their site. The XSKN designs will give you an idea of the shape and size of the new  iPhone Nano.  We understand that a number of company are producing cases as of last week. If you remember, before iPhone 3G was released a number of companies including Griffin had advanced information of the size and shape of iPhone 3G. We understand that once one company starts making a mold their information is passed onto other mold companies or accessory companies through a China underground network.

This news is some of the first to stir up a little interest before the Macworld conference this year, where nothing is known besides the fact that Steve Jobs will be speaking. There also are not as many speculations about new products as there usually are around this time.

The information could prove to be true, or total BS but the pictures go along with all the speculations going around, and personally an iPhone Nano wouldn’t be such a bad gadget to have lying around.

IDealsChina also posted some photos of the cases that are presumably going to be used for the iPhone Nano.

Via MacBlogz

Lenovo, largely known as a PC manufacturer is making themselves known in the smart phone market by developing a touchscreen smart phone that strongly resembles the iPhone.

The iPhone is currently the leader in touchscreen smart phones, gaining massive popularity since it’s launch just over a year and a half ago. One of the reasons for the iPhone’s success is it’s simple, intuitive interface and design. Lenovo plans to expand on those qualities and have the phone be powered by the open source Android platform.

The design takes a few concepts from the iPhone such as a full touchscreen interface which fits right into the phone’s body, and it will have minimal buttons which cuts down on the clutter. Having buttons for basic tasks such as calling, hanging up, and navigating menus increases the functionality, but the less buttons the better. These two design aspects will help the Lenovo phone have a modern, minimalistic appearance.

The “oPhone” as it has unofficially been nicknamed will be able to support China’s TD-SCDMA standard for 3G data transfer due to a modified version of Android. This modified version is called the Open Mobile System, which many analysts say will boost sales of the phone since it supports the faster data speeds combined with it’s functionality and looks.

One surprising speculation is that the “oPhone” does not have a visible keyboard which leads some to think that they will incorporate an on screen keyboard into their modified Android.

The “oPhone” is set for a China only release between February and March 2009 for China Mobile. This seems like a very promising phone, combining the functionality of the open source Android platform as well as the stylish looks.

Via Electronista and modmyGphone

The Linux 2.6 kernel has been ported to both generations of iPhones as well as the 1st generation iPod Touch. 

This is a major event in the iPhone world as it has been reverse engineered enough to allow a new OS to run alongside the normal iPhone OS. As of now there is no support for the touchscreen, accelerameter and most other features. Just running the Linux kernel itself is a huge achievement.

Here is part of the post from the linuxoniphoneblog:

 
I’m pleased to announce that the Linux 2.6 kernel has been ported to Apple’s iPhone platform, with support for the first and second generation iPhones as well as the first generation iPod touch. This is a rough first draft of the port, and many drivers are still missing, but it’s enough that a real alternative operating system is running on the iPhone.

What we have:

- Framebuffer driver
- Serial driver
- Serial over USB driver
- Interrupts, MMU, clock, etc.

What we have in openiboot (but hasn’t been ported yet):

- Read-only support for the NAND

What we don’t have (yet!):

- Write support for the NAND
- Wireless networking
- Touchscreen
- Sound
- Accelerometer
- Baseband support

The current userland we’re using, in the interest of expedience, is a Busybox installation created with buildroot, but glibc works fine as well, and we’re going to build a more permanent userland solution.

We’ll have to see how far this goes, but I’ve got to say, if they got Linux to run on an iPhone with full touchscreen capabilities… well that would be amazing.

Definitely pay some attention to this blog in the future: linuxoniphone

Here is a video of Linux on the iPhone

iPhone Linux Demonstration Video from planetbeing on Vimeo.

The iPhone has gained massive popularity around the globe as a great handheld computing device, but now it is being used for more than most people ever invisioned. Now the iPhone can search for and add torrents to download to your PC sitting at home.

Torrents obviously can’t be downloaded straight to the iPhone since it has limited storage, but if you can use the iPhone to find torrents and then add them to your home download queue then that is almost as good right?

What’s Needed:

• µTorrent
• iPhone Web Interface for µTorrent
• iPhone

What To Do:

1. Install µTorrent on your PC
2. Follow the instructions on the site to install the iPhone Web Interface for µTorrent
3. Once the interface has been installed and running on the iPhone go to uTorrent webAPP
4. At the bottom of the screen on your iPhone you will see where you should enter your IP address and port (This information will be saved in the iPhone so there is no need to re-enter later)
5. After all the information is filled out, enter a search in the search bar
6. If a torrent that you want to download shows up just press the blue icon next to the torrent and it will be added to the download queue

Further information on this and other related articles can be found on Torrent Freak.