This evening Apple made iPhone software version 1.0.1 available to the masses via iTunes, an update that primarily addresses security issues. Perhaps the biggest security fix in this update is “Safari - CVE-ID: CVE-2007-3944″ which emerged last week and allowed the iPhone to be completely taken over by a Web site serving up malicious code. There are reports of other features that iPhone owners are seeing that were not there pre-update, but nothing official has been announced from Apple.

For your viewing enjoyment here are some screenshots I captured during the updating process:

1) New iPhone software version 1.0.1 available

2) iPhone software update important information

3) iPhone software update license agreement

4) Extracting iPhone software update package

5) Verifying existing iPhone software

6) Updating iPhone firmware

7) Updating iPhone software

8 ) Verifying updated iPhone software

9) iPhone has been updated and is restarting

10) iPhone software version 1.0.1 as displayed in iTunes after updating

All-in-all a useful little update that is well worth installing (who wants their iPhone taken over?). However it’s clearly not the big update we’re all hoping for with MMS messaging capability, a filesystem that we can save to, and MS Exchange support, but every little bit helps.

The Neo-Con fear-mongering propaganda machine is at it again, and this just may be its most outlandish claim to date. News Corp in Australia — you know, the fair and balanced organization run by Rupert Murdoch — is reporting that terrorists are using Second Life as a testing environment to practice for real life terrorist attacks. Apparently Aussie and U.S. law enforcement officials are so concerned that they’ve established their own virtual terror scenarios in order to gain the same experience as the terrorists.

Wow. Can you smell Cheney’s desperation for a case to attack Iran? This is just preposterous. I’m sorry, but saying that terrorists are practicing on Second Life for real-world terrorist attacks is like saying you’re no longer a virgin because you’ve had cyber sex.

The article goes on to discuss how governments need to improve their technical capabilities with tools such as Second Life in order to have the appropriate means to monitor what’s going on in the terrorist world — isn’t that why we have a CIA/FBI/Homeland Security Department?

I truly hope that my fellow Americans can begin to see around the lies of the Neo-Conservatives. I actually had a conversation with a co-worker today about the looming attack on Iran and the possibility of an America run by martial law. He was quick to try and dismiss what I told him as neo-liberal conspiracy theory, but after pointing out to him that I am not a liberal and showing him the evidence of the claims I was making, he began to take it a little more seriously.

The truth is out there, we’ve just been conditioned by the government and mass media not to look for it. Don’t be the ignorant American, otherwise by the time we collectively rise up to confront our runaway government it will be far too late.

In what looks to be its next move in the high stakes chess match against the United States, Iran is to purchase 250 Sukhoi-30 long-range fighter jets from Russia as part of a massive multi-billion dollar arms deal. Additionally, Iran will acquire several aerial fuel tankers that will effectively extend the range of the Sukhoi-30 fighters by thousands of kilometers — giving Iran the capability to launch long-range offensive strikes.

The Sukhoi-30 is a dual seat, multi-role fighter jet that has the ability to operate in poor weather conditions at great distances from home base. It has extensive combat capabilities including air patrol, air defense, ground attacks, enemy air defense suppression and air-to-air combat.

While the U.S. and Israel have voiced opposition to Russia against the sale of military equipment to Iran, Russia contends that it reserves the right to sell weapons to Iran provided they are of a defensive nature. A more likely motive than Iranian self-defense capability is no doubt the billions of dollars Iran will pay to Russia.

This move has the potential to severely complicate things for Dick Cheney and Co. who are hellbent on bombing Iran. In addition, it serves to highlight the continual souring of camaraderie between the U.S. and Russia, which all stems back to Bush’s plan to put a missile defense system in Eastern Europe. But I think the biggest thing we can get from this is the understanding that any conflict with Iran will be brutal and horrific, and that we must do whatever is necessary to ensure an armed conflict does not occur.

On Monday I wrote about how my iPhone broke and needed to be sent to Apple for repair. I mentioned that Apple said I would receive my iPhone on Wednesday or Thursday. Apple lied…but not how you may think. You see, they were correct about the Wednesday or Thursday part, as I did get mail from Apple Thursday evening. Where they were wrong, however, is that I didn’t get my iPhone, at least not the one that was sent to them.

As it turns out, the ear piece malfunction with my iPhone was a real issue that Apple didn’t know how to fix, so they just opted to send me a brand new one in return. Not too shabby a deal if you ask me. Here are some pictures from the iPhone replacement unboxing:

1) Package from Apple

2) Instructions for iPhone SIM Card removal

3) AppleCare iPhone Service Agreement

4) Box to send loaner iPhone back and box containing new iPhone

5) Brand new iPhone…ta-da!

And for those of you keeping score at home, yes, I currently have two iPhones. Look how pretty they are:

Unfortunately this double-iPhone-fisting scenario won’t last for long, as good ‘ole Steve and the rest of the Cupertino crew would like to have their loaner back, lest my credit card get charged $600. No thanks.

For those who still do not have an iPhone and may be upset with me for having two, I won’t mention any names, allow me to offer up some LOLCAT iPhone humor to brighten up your day a bit…

The founders of ConnectU, who attended Harvard University concurrently with Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, have filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Boston claiming fraud and copyright infringement on the part of Zuckerberg. They contend that Zuckerberg, who agreed to write some code for their site, never finished coding and subsequently launched Facebook, which at the time of this writing has over 31 million users.

Although attorneys for Facebook are arguing that the founders of ConnectU have no evidence and the case should be dismissed, ConnectU is moving forward with the case in hopes of attaining a court order to shut down the site, hand over control and pay company profits.

A hearing on the motion set forth by Facebook attorneys to dismiss is set for tomorrow.

OK, setting the ludicrous nature of this case aside, the burning question to the ConnectU founders has got to be: why on Earth did you wait so long? I’m not sure of the exact date that Facebook launched, but I know that my university got it in November 2004, and that it was already a big success before that time at scores of universities around the United States. So why wait 3-4+ years and sue, when Facebook has gathered tens of millions of users and it would be much more difficult to win?

Now that the timing issue has been addressed, let’s consider the evidence issue. If the Facebook attorneys are right that ConnectU has no proof, then this case will most likely get dismissed tomorrow at the hearing. But, if they can show some evidence to the judge that can create some sort of “reasonable doubt” for lack of a better term, this thing could possibly go to trial.

Assuming — and this is a big assumption as if it got this far Facebook would look to settle with a monetary value — this case went to trial, my guess is that Facebook has the better change of winning, but there would be an outside shot for ConnectU. And how awesome would that be if ConnectU could actually prove what they’re claiming against Zuckerberg. I for one would certainly pull for them against Facebook. Anyone sitting on a Web site getting buyout offers worth hundreds of millions of dollars, but holding out for $2 billion is greedy and selfish and should be forced to live in the projects for a year. That would certainly change his/her perspective on life and wealth.

Good luck ConnectU!

First off, some housekeeping details. My apologies for the amount of time that has passed since my last post. I was away on business for two weeks in Chicago and didn’t have a lot of down time to where I could sit down and bang out a quality post. However, I am back to spending my days in NYC so expect some more posts. OK so now that the boring agenda items are out of the way, on with the iPhone-related post.

In Chicago my nickname was “iJon,” very fitting if you’ve been reading this blog lately and know of my obsession with my iPhone. Everywhere I went, co-workers from all around the world referred to me by that name and would always make Apple Fanboy puns toward me (of course we all know this is simply jealousy manifesting itself ).

Well, it is my sad news to report — and this is incredibly difficult for me to write because of the backlash I know I am bringing upon myself — that Apple’s wonderful and beautiful iPhone is, in fact, not perfect.

iPhone worked like a charm from the first moment I turned it on, and all throughout my business trip to Chicago, never a single problem. Then, my plane lands at Newark Airport as I’m returning home, I call Carina to tell her my plane has landed, and ……….. silence. I hang up and call back, this time I get ………… silence. Confused, I elected to make a call from my T-Mobile Dash, thinking that some airplane equipment was jamming the iPhone (or so I was trying to convince myself).

I exited the plane, picked up my luggage from baggage claim, and got into the car to head home. In the car on the way home I tried to make another call, and again the same deafening silence. I tried once more when we got home and the same thing happened. Praying for a miracle, I went to bed with the hope it would work once again in the AM.

Upon waking up Saturday morning I tried to make another call ……….. silence. But this time I got smart, and tapped the speaker phone area of the screen, worked like a charm. Then I plugged in the iPhone headphones and made a call, worked like a charm. Boom! Problem singled-out: ear piece.

Next I did what any Fanboy down on his luck would do. I went to my local Apple Store and sought the expertise of a genius. Upon arriving at the Apple Store the employees took my iPhone, said “wait right here,” and proceeded into the back of the store. About 10 minutes later a guy walked out and said the ear piece is broken. Well, obviously.

The “genius” then asked me if I had restored my iPhone via iTunes. I said no because the problem seemed to be hardware specific and not software-related. Nonetheless, the genius went ahead with restoring my iPhone to factory settings (luckily I synced before making the trip). As expected, this did absolutely nothing, so the genius went to consult another genius.

After a few minutes of the discussion the first genius came back and asked me when I had purchased the iPhone. I said the very first day and showed him the receipt. He said in that case the phone would have to be sent in for repair since it was older than two weeks. Additionally, if I wanted to get a loaner phone while mine was being repaired it would cost me $30.

I began to express a bit of severe annoyance so the second genius (the one whom the first consulted) came over to see what was going on. I explained to him the situation and added this time that my girlfriend (who was standing right beside me at the time) was one of the first people in the store to get one, and it didn’t seem fair to punish us for being one of the early adopters, when someone whose had it for less than two weeks could simply swap it out. The second genius seemed sympathetic, and said he’d be right back after a quick chat with the manager.

When he returned he apologized for the inconvenience and said that while the phone had to be sent in for repairs, he could wave the $30 loaner fee while my iPhone was being fixed. I agreed to that and after a bit of paperwork I got a loaner and my iPhone got sent off to wherever they fix those things.

I am supposed to receive it fixed via mail either Wednesday or Thursday, at which time I need to send back the loaner iPhone — failure to do so means a $600 charge on my credit card.

So all-in-all, it really broke my heart that my beloved iPhone broke. It was literally the first electronic device I have never dropped because I babied it so much. Although Apple didn’t show the excellent customer service I’m used to, they took care of me in the end and this is still such a new product in a new market for them that I’m willing to show some leeway.

Here’s to Apple keeping this Fanboy.

Baby-faced 18-year-old Brit Carys Copestake has offered her virginity for over $20,000 to help her pay tuition costs for her four-year physics course at Salford University. She used a false name to advertise herself on prostitute Web sites in an effort to keep her parents in the dark about the whole debacle.

The ad on the Web site read as follows: “Virginity For Sale £10,000.” In the description of the ad, Copestake wrote the following:

“Hey, I think the title says it all. I’m an 18-year-old virgin with student funds to pay and I’m looking to sell my first time right here. I’m brunette, 34C, green eyes, all in proportion and good looking.”

In an interview with a reporter, she said that she had been getting curious about the opposite sex and wanted to explore with someone to teach her, and that she found herself in a financial situation and this presented an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.

After conversations with the reporter who was skeptical as to whether she was truly a virgin or just trying to deceive potential buyers, Copestake announced that she had found a buyer her first customer.

“I’ve been offered the money in cash and I’m going to do it this Thursday. Sorry I’m at work so I can’t speak any more.”

While this story certainly has an amusing factor to it, it’s also very unfortunate at the same time. I crossed out “a buyer” and replaced it with “her first customer” because in effect what she has done is gone and made herself a prostitute. Posting anonymous ads on Web sites with descriptions describing all of your physical attributes in an effort to attract a buyer for sex is clear cut prostitution. But I don’t think we can blame the girl completely, sure she is responsible for her actions, but let’s consider the circumstances of a young girl struggling to pay for university. Has our global society put such an important emphasis on attaining a college degree that now women are willing to become prostitutes just to get one? Unfortunately I think the answer to that question might be yes, although it certainly shouldn’t be, because the stark reality is that a college degree doesn’t do half of what it used to for graduates.

If you’ve spent anytime on a politically-oriented Web site lately you’ve likely seen the catch phrases “police state,” “authoritarianism,” or “totalitarianism” being discussed. Often times the debate is whether or not the United States — under the leadership of Bush and Cheney — is heading down the path to becoming a police state. However I’m not writing this to continue the debate, but rather to analyze it from a different perspective due to a situation I experienced commuting to work this morning.

I arrived at the NJ Transit station in Hoboken, NJ to catch a transfer to another train that would take me to my final destination. Upon arriving at the station and exiting my first train I saw two armed police officers standing in front me. The armed officers, both white males, stood like statues not flinching one bit, just giving out serious and determined death looks like they were on the hunt for someone that just killed their pet poodle. And when I say armed, I mean ARMED. The officers not only carried the standard police issued 9-mm handgun, that was just in their holster, in their arms they carried what looked to be M16 assault rifles (I was reluctant to snap a pic for fear of them confiscating my iPhone).

So you’re thinking two officers, big deal Jon. Wait, it gets worse. As I walked from my first train, which came in on track 3, to my transfer train, which was on track 13 (a distance of roughly 125-150 feet), I saw eight more police officers just as heavily armed, and with just as serious of a dead poodle problem. Now consider this all took place during the early morning commuting hours, before rush hour, so there weren’t even that many people in the station.

But wait, it gets even worse still. I’m sitting on the second train of my commute, writing this post and the police officers board my train! I’m not sure how many in number there are, so far I have counted 3 but they’re behind me between cars so there could easily be more (if only they knew what I was writing only 15 feet away from them). One of the officers traversed through the car handing our yellow security fliers stating: “Alert level — Yellow.”

Finally they have just exited the train in Newark, where an influx of people boarded the train, and it’s clearly evident that the police officers holding M16s spooked them a bit. They walked across the platform and boarded another train, likely to start the entire process all over again.

My question to all of this morning’s events is not is the U.S. becoming a police state, but rather is the U.S. already a police state? I felt like at any moment an officer was going to stop me and ask for my “papers” like I was in Nazi Germany, or that they would use some sort of RFID tracking to locate the “renegade blogger” on this train out to destroy the government with his words.

OK maybe one of those two is a little far-fetched. But the fact that concepts like that are actually being discussed means that such incidents aren’t too far outside of the realm of possibility. I’m sure the Germans during the 1930s never saw it coming until it was too late. Are we going to be students of history? Or are we going to become the Neo-Con Reich?

Something very strange happened to me yesterday while I was at work. I saw — for only the second time in my life — a Microsoft Zune in the wild. I had my iPhone out and was showing it to various co-workers who inquired when all of a sudden one of them pulled out a brown Zune and placed it on the table directly in front of my iPhone.

As I looked at the Zune I couldn’t help but notice the iPhone reflection off of the Zune’s display and I thought to myself, wow, that is probably the best thing anyone has ever seen on a Zune…

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has rejected an offer by American — and Oscar winning — film director Oliver Stone because he is part of the “Great Satan,” according to a semiofficial Iranian news agency.

Mehdi Kalhor, media adviser to the Iranian President, was quoted by the Fars agency on Sunday as saying “I sent a negative answer by Ahmadinejad to Oliver Stone.” He added that it is true Stone is a member of the opposition to the U.S. government, but nonetheless he is still part of the evil American machine.

“It is right that this person is considered part of the opposition in the US, but opposition in the US is a part of the Great Satan.”

The whole “Great Satan” verbiage dates back to the time of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who referred to the United States as the Great Satan in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic Revolution of Iran.

I think this is a stupid move on the part of Iran, especially given Ahmadinejad’s love for manipulating public perception through propaganda. Recall that he has sent letters to not only President Bush but also the American people, trying to achieve a mutual understanding. He has also challenged President Bush to TV debates, which obviously the White House has denied. Making a film with Oliver Stone would give him unprecedented access to the American public, because Big Media wouldn’t be able to censor it.

The only way for peace is diplomacy and negotiations, and with the Neo-Cons banging the Iran war drums this couldn’t be a more timely opportunity for tensions to get diffused.