Apple has combated jailbreaking with firmware updates but generally hackers easily find their way around and release new tools within a week. Instead of keeping up with this method, Apple has taken a different approach. They are shipping new units with an updated boot MW3 ROM that doesn’t allow for jailbreaking to occur.

A screenshot has been taken over at iClarified that confirms the new Bootrom:

Japan, by no means a stranger to advanced technology, generated some of the most activity in terms of sales. Japanese customers bought one million iPhones when the device was first launched. However, many market hawks are predicting that the new iPhone 3GS won’t sell quite as well. One market analyst explains, “It’s difficult to expect considerable replacement demand for the new model.” Since sales were so high mere months ago, and most mobile phone plans are 24-months, fewer customers will buy the new iPhone this early.” While most analysts believe that the new iPhone sales slump is attributable to a too-recent launch of the first one, other analysts realize that some consumers may prefer the Palm Pre, the Android, or the Blackberry. Strange, but true. Of course, the Palm Pre alone cannot outdo the iPphone giant, but the combined forces of dozens of new smartphone options may just put a dent in Apple’s optimism.

The new iPhone boasts a spate of new features, including a new, fast operating system (the S in 3GS stands for “speed”), a 3-Megapixel video camera, a sweet voice activation system, and a digital compass.

The latest trend in comestibles these days is to get it organic. Meanwhile, iPhones are pretty much sweeping the tech world. Combine them, and what do you get? Gluten-free techies roaming the aisles looking for tofu and vegan burgers? Quite possibly. Let’s make that actually.

While Whole Foods Market is attracting food-snobs in droves, the marketing department has apparently also noticed that many of their customers are also up on the latest tech trends, too. In response, Whole Foods has developed the Whole Foods iPhone app that gives users the directions to the closest Whole Foods Market, allows them to check store hours, find out the local specials, grab a recipe for dinner, and investigate the nutritional information for the grilled salmon they’re having for supper. Since the app is free, it’s obvious that Whole Foods isn’t using it to generate revenue. They’re using it to whet appetitesand funnel more customers in for grocery shopping.

Whole Foods Market isn’t the only tech-savvy company that has married technology with food. Dunkin’ Donuts has done the same. Passionate coffee lovers can’t resist, even if their marketing strategy is a bit more direct than Whole Foods. Rather than obliquely suggest that customers buy food at their store, Dunkin’ Donuts virtually demands it. With the app “Dunkin’ Run” coffee-loving iPhone users can take office coffee orders right on their iPhone. As if that’s not enough, other Dunkin’ Run users will receive alerts when someone is planning a run to the shop, and orders can be placed online-right from the interactive online menu.

As other cuisiniers, restaurant owners, and food chains get caught up in the world domination of apps for everything, we may find more eager shoppers at our coffee shops and grocery stores, wandering the aisles-iPhone in hand.

It all started after dinner at a downtown bar. Kevin Miller realized, not too long after leaving the bar, that he was without his iPhone. Back to the bar for Kevin and Co., only to find no trace of the phone, no clues from guests, and no idea what to do. No idea, that is, until he remembered the just-released “Find My iPhone” feature. The next morning they began tracking the phone, first identified at a stationary location, then cruising down the street on a bus, and finally cornering the thief who sheepishly returned the iPhone with a feeble excuse and without much of a fuss.

The success story draws attention to the new MobileMe feature which was announced at Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference 2009, hosted in San Francisco earlier in June. The handy feature gives users the ability to use their lost iPhone as a homing device, broadcasting its exact coordinates to the user’s MobileMe account, which can be accessed online.

While Kevin Miller’s success story is good news, the iPhone locating program isn’t without its potential downsides. In the first place, users need to enable the “Find My iPhone” feature if they ever hope to find their phone. Plus, MobileMe is a paid subscription (an additional cost to the regular iPhone subscription), which provides users with an online coordination and synchronization of files, e-mail, address book, calendar, photos, etc. Another potential downside is the fateful quandary of performing a mobile swipe. The good news is, a mobile swipe would effectively protect your personal information. The bad news is, if you perform the mobile swipe on a lost iPhone, you’ll never be able to find your phone using the “Find My iPhone feature.”

And then there’s the question of, “What do I do if I find my iPhone in the hands of an angry, armed thief?” That’s an entirely different question, and I’m afraid technology doesn’t have a good answer yet.

Not only does the new iPhone boast of a bigger memory, but rumor also has it that the look of the new iPhone will remarkably differ from its metal-banded predecessors. Bigger memory? Well, that’s really no big surprise, though it might be a little bigger than most originally anticipated. But a different look? Now that could potentially alter Apple’s market. It’s highly unlikely to drive its hardcore devotees away, but it may attract new users.

In addition to the bigger memory, some of the other exciting new features are likely to include an illuminated logo on the back, an FM transmitter, a 3.2 megapixel camera, a video camera, and built-in compass, just to name a few.

The quickly approaching June 8 Apple WWDC conference should reveal additional features and surprises of the 2009 Apple iPhone. But there’s no doubt it will be bigger, and that iPhone fans will be anxiously awaiting its release.

Right now, the app is free. Who knows where this technology will go from here. Some project it being a growing technology that will expand in its appeal and in its versatility. We shall see. So far, it’s more of a novelty than it is a necessity, but it does work quite nicely, according to reviews.

You can now take your multitasking to the next incredible level. If you live your life on the iPhone, here’s another way to deprive you of the enjoyment of facing the world during a walk, but will still allow you to keep a careful eye on things. But in case you were wondering, no, it doesn’t work very well for driving. It doesn’t have rear view mirrors. Yet.

If that sounds like you, Quickoffice might be a breath of fresh air. A set of three interrelated applications — a word processor, spreadsheet app, and file manager — Quickoffice puts a Microsoft Office-compatible office suite in your pocket thanks to the world’s best smartphone.

TUAW has a full review, including a plethora of screenshots. Steven Sande puts all three apps through their paces, revealing a competent (if somewhat buggy) set of applications. Sande particularly likes Quickword’s copy and paste implementation, calling it “fun.”

Curiously, the Quickoffice suite is not compatible with files created by Apple’s iWork suite. It also does not allow saving of .docx or .xlsx files — though it can view both. Quickoffice is able to view and edit Office 2007 files on the Symbian platform. (Quickoffice also has a version for Android-powered smartphones.)

Read the rest of the TUAW review for more information. For business users looking to get some real work done on their iPhones, Quickoffice might be a solution, albeit an imperfect one.

BusinessWeek writers Spencer E. Ante and Arik Hesseldahl have the full scoop, and include a few details about an “iPhone lite” smartphone Apple is supposedly developing for Verizon Wireless. The iPhone lite will be slightly smaller and thinner than the iPhone currently gracing AT&T’s network. Software or other capabilities are not mentioned, but BusinessWeek’s sources state that the device is manufactured using a “system on a chip” design and will therefore have an enormous profit margin. Apple is expected to continue manufacturing the original iPhone for AT&T while simultaneously selling Verizon iPhone lites.

The Apple tablet, or “media pad,” as it is dubbed by BusinessWeek, is another intriguing development. Supposedly slightly smaller than a Kindle and all touchscreen, the device would let users listen to music, view photos, and watch high-definition videos. The media pad will also let users place calls over Wi-fi using Voice-over-IP (VOIP) services. BusinessWeek’s source states that the media pad will define an entirely new category of consumer products.

One of these devices is expected to be released this year. Since Apple is already prepping a new version of the iPhone for this summer, it’s likely that the iPhone lite will wait. Apple may introduce the new media pad as a “one more thing” surprise at WWDC this summer. Developers would certainly need to adapt to the 10″ screen expected on the device.

There is definitely consumer interest in such a device as well. Apple is likely to use its iPhone OS on a media tablet, albeit a modified version targeted for a larger screen. If this tablet takes off, Apple will solidify mobile touch as the company’s second core computing platform. The company has been moving in the consumer electronics direction for years (since the original iPod’s introduction), but a new device midway between the iPod touch and a Macintosh signals that the company is preparing to put all its might behind the new touch platform.

(Via Engadget.)

According to a report from Ars Technica’s Chris Foresman, the new features, code-named “Jibbler,” will be incorporated as enhancements to the SpringBoard app launcher program. Jibbler might be activated by squeezing the iPhone’s headset button and holding it while speaking. When released, the device will attempt to interpret what was said (i.e. “Call Mom”).

The phone will also likely include the same voice synthesis technology found in the new iPod shuffle, either by giving the user an auditory response — “Calling Mom” — or by “reading” data like CD track names back to the user. While the iPod shuffle’s voice prompts are pre-recorded the by the host computer, the iPhone would have the hardware muscle to render voices in real time.

None of these features would require new hardware, so they may just be one of the (probably many) unannounced features of the upcoming iPhone OS update. Ars also found some hooks in the iPhone’s code for accessing Jibbler, so these features may eventually be opened up to developers as well. Voice recognition features are already present in Google’s Search app, albeit handled by a third-party server, so there would certainly be a demand for voice capabilities from developers.

(Via Gizmodo.)

AppleInsider has a complete rundown, including extensive screenshots. Some of the highlights:

• Safari will allow you to close out and clear all of open browser windows, even the last active one. Currently, users need to create a new, blank window in order to close out their final lone browser window. In beta 3, even the final window displays a red X button in the top left corner; clicking in causes the window to be quickly replaced with a fresh, blank one.

• Users will have the option to display the phone’s remaining batter life as numerals, rather than a tiny battery icon. A set of .png resources in the new beta’s Springboard application show each of the numerals in both black and red; it is assumed that the red numerals will be used once battery life drops below a certain threshold. According to rumors, users will also be able to choose whether they want their remaining battery life to be displayed as an icon, numerals, or both — just as they can choose with the battery life on the desktop version of OS X.

• A new preference pane allows users to disable any of the three types of push notifications (text alerts, sounds, and app icon badges) or turn the alerts off entirely to get a little extra juice out of the iPhone’s batteries.

• Data Detectors — bits of smart code that auto detect things like street addresses or dates and let users do things with them — appear to be enabled as well, at least in the Notes application. Data Detectors are already part of the desktop Mac OS X and let users, for example, click on a street address in Mail.app and be taken to a Google map of the location in Safari.

• More precise song scrubbing is coming to the iPod app. Currently, tap-and-drag scrubbing can’t match the precise scrubbing that physical iPod touch wheel makes possible. Apple is attempting to address this issue by letting different finger positions dictate different scrubbing speeds.

This is likely to be the final beta released by Apple to developers before the company unveils new hardware in June. Even though a few new features have been revealed here and there, Apple probably has a few big surprises up its sleeves as well that it’s keeping out of these developer releases.