As of yesterday, Apple has made iPhones available at their stores to customers not wanting to sign a contract. The 8 GB version will run you $599, and the 16GB is $699. To activate your iPhone, you can do so through iTunes.

Much of the speculation is that Apple is trying to dump all the stock they have in time for the release of their new iPhone. I don’t think the price points help that matter any, but that’s just my opinion.

Apple Insider

If you haven’t been able to keep up with the iPhone OS 3.0 press conference then Apple is to your rescue. They’ve posted the conference in its entirety on their website.

Click here, if you’d like to take a look (Quicktime required of course.. )

Here are some main points shown off during the conference…

- The iPhone has now been released in over 80 countries.

- The iPhone OS 3.0 will allowed downloadable content for apps, and games.

- Explains why background processes won’t be included in upgrade.

- ESPN will upgrade their alert app with 3.0

- Selecting text, and adding copy and paste.

To enjoy most of the animations you see on the internet, you have to download the Adobe Flash Player. For some, this can be a hinderance, and if anything it leaves Adobe as the primary solution for web animation. Apple looks to be changing that, as they are going to implement animation through CSS.

They’ve already started it with mobile Safari on the iPhone. With support for the Mac OS X build of Safari soon to come. WebKit Blog made the initial find, and have already put the feature to interesting use. Of course, you’ll need to view it with your iPhone’s Safari.

This latest news has left a division in terms of whether people like it or not. For designers, it is a great advancement. Because you don’t have to implement Flash in order to bring animation to your site. For users it leaves a more mixed reaction. While some see it as an advancement, others wonder what this means in terms of having options to not view site animations. Some people just don’t care whether a site makes cool little movements or not. Hopefully, these questions will be answered as more information is released.

What are you thoughts about this? Are you liking that site animations are being expanded upon through CSS? Or could you care less about animations, and just visit sites for the content?

According to a Bloomberg report, iPhone users can expect to see some better Flash in the future. The announcement came from Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen.

Speaking to Bloomberg, he had this to say, “It’s a hard technical challenge, and that’s part of the reason Apple and Adobe are collaborating…The ball is in our court. The onus is on us to deliver.”

Adobe Flash is available on many different cellular handsets, but the iPhone uses Flash Lite. Steve Jobs called out Adobe earlier in the year, wanting a better version of Flash on the iPhone. He then challenged Adobe to release a third version of Flash that could run on the iPhone.

It looks like Jobs could be getting his wish. The only question left is, ‘how long will it take?’

iTunes, and iPod owners have been begging for it, and Apple has finally delivered. As of yesterday, Apple is allowing iTunes users to download their music free of DRM. The change comes by way of iTunes Plus. For those who want to have their current library DRM-free, Apple is offering another solution as well. With iTunes Plus, users can upgrade their current library to DRM-free at $0.30/song.

The other big change coming to iTunes is the pricing structure, which will take place in March. Instead of having all the music at the standard $0.99/song, there will be three tiers. Depending on the label, and age of the track the new prices are, $0.69, $0.99, and $1.29.

There’s yet even more changes for iTunes, as it is now compatible with the 3G network. So, all of you iPhone users now have the ability to download iTunes tracks over wi-fi on your 3G connection.

Has anyone tried out the downloads over the 3G network to see if they’re working properly? What do you think of the DRM-free solution implemented by Apple? Will the new pricing tier be more cost effective for the consumer in the long run?

It’s hard to believe that the iTunes App Store has only been around since July. I currently only own an iPod Touch, but it’s hard to image not having the ability to download Apps onto it.

The New York Times has written a very interesting article about the App Store, and the craze that has surrounded it. I think they raise some valid, and interesting questions about the App Store and just what makes it so popular.

Statistics show that 9 out of 10 iPhone owners have downloaded atleast one App from the App Store onto their device. I don’t think there’s any question to the popularity of the App Store, but how about its usefulness?

I would like to ask a follow-up question to the 9 out of 10 iPhone. How much use do you get out of the Apps that you’ve downloaded for your device? I believe that the responses would be quite varied. The factors for how useful an iPhone App is based on the user. I’m sure for people that travel, that iPhone Apps are used in abundance. I’m not a huge traveler, and there’s a few Apps that I continually use on a regular basis.

Sportacular, is probably my most used App as I use it to keep up with my favorite sports teams and when they play in the upcoming week. I also use Wikiamo quite a bit, as I always seem to need a bit of information on obscure subjects quite often.

What I find most surprising about the App Store is how many of the ‘cool, but I’ll never use’ Apps make it to the “Top” lists on the front page. iFart Mobile is sitting atop the Top Paid Apps at the moment. I keep trying to think of reasons why so many people want it on their phone. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for having a slew of fart noises on command, but having it at the #1 spot? It just seems wrong somehow.

Of course the most popular category for downloads, is Games. For the Top Paid Apps, 7 out of the 10 are games. This isn’t a huge surprise, as it’s always handy to have some entertainment when you’re having to wait in a boring lobby or line.

What I really want to know, is how do you use the App Store? Do you download useful Apps that you use on a daily basis for organization and business purposes? Are you an iFart Mobile owner? Do you do quite a bit of gaming on your iPhone?