The iPhone Dev Team has released PwnageTool 2.0.3, which supports the jailbreaking of iPhone and iPod touch firmware 2.0.2 5C1.

The new release also sports an updated version of the ever so essential Installer.app beta 6 and new .de localization for German users. There are no significant updates with regard to the 3G baseband unlock, according to the iPhone Dev Team.

"PwnageTool 2.0.3 is available," the developers reveal on their blog. "This version provides support for iPhone/iPod firmware 2.0.2 5C1, it has an updated Installer.app beta (b6) and contains a new .de localization for our large amount of German friends."

The developers also reveal that the ‘150’ beta update to the Windows QuickPwn application is also available, offering fixes for YouTube and BootNeuter support for the unlocking of 2G iPhones. (Though they do warn that this is beta software).

"QuickPwn Windows doesn’t work well with virtualization as there are some problems with the way USB resets are handled, so we wouldn’t advise trying it, we have had reports of some success with VMWare Fusion 2.0 Beta 2, but this shouldn’t be relied on, use PwnageTool instead, or wait for QuickPwn Mac," the developers also warn.

"QuickPwn for Mac is being tested right now by a group of testers and we’ll release this when it is ready for public beta (this won’t be within the next 24 hours, but should be within the next week)," they also revealed.

News around the web is that September 9th is the iPod Nano Rainbow/iPod Touch GPS launch day.  September 9th is my birthday, so I can buy that..  But what about MacBooks?  Apple doesn’t really mix iPod and Mac launches at least not in the last few years.  Additionally, we’ve heard LATE September is when we’ll we’ll see the new MacBook/Pros.  Is it possible that Apple will have two events in September? 

As always these things can get bumped around due to many things including parts availabilities and…ahem…software quality assurance. 

From Giz comes Verizon’s anti iPhone cheat sheet – to help employees deal with the deluge of iPhone questions.

These are actually some good talking points, even though it does scratch the surface of why the iPhone is so popular.

 We’re saddened to report an Apple move has stymied attempts to create a copy-&-paste solution for the iPhone. 

We recently introduced the developers at OpenClip who are attempting to create a way to copy-&-paste text between applications on an iPhone. They had a simple plan – Open Clip would essentially save copy you select within an area of the iPhone’s memory which can then be accessed by other apps. And the roll call of developers then planning to use and support the solution includes: Dial Zero, Twittelator, WordPress, Cocktail, Ultralingua and more. And we looked forward to being able to blog a little better using the device.

But things have changed. Apple’s iPhone Software 2.1 prevents OpenClip’s solution copying and pasting between applications, though it will still be possible to store data inside the application, meaning that copy and paste within the app will still work fine. 

The move’s explained on the developer’s blog, where it says, "However, even though apple is killing the concept behind the current OpenClip, that doesn’t mean we can’t change the concept. A shared clipboard could be stored in an Address Book card or even on a remote server. Those solutions aren’t as good as the OpenClip implementation, but they aren’t bad. "

The developer intends creating such a solution, in hope it’s enough to convince Apple that introducing support for copy-&-paste on an iPhone is something people want.

OpenClip doesn’t believe Apple’s 2.1 move is an attempt to specifically prevent the application, saying, "I don’t really believe this to be the case. Even though I debuted to concept before the newest beta was release, I’m sure Apple had been planning to kill this kind of thing for a while."

Although it is minor and probably caused more problems than it solved, we noticed that the "Update All" option has been killed by Apple in version 2.02 of the iPhone App Store.  It is a pain to update five applications in serial but it is all in the name of stability we are assuming.  Too bad it isn’t as stable as we’d hoped…

Thanks to the poll commentors for letting us know we weren’t insane!

Yes, the ads still run quicker than anyone gets on their (sometimes not) freezing iPhone 3G… but you get the point…which is that the iTunes apps store changes everything..

 This week’s free app of the week is a game I recently found my mother playing, Cube Runner. Okay, even though my mother was playing it, it does not mean it’s lame! Cube Runner is a 3D flying game, with the objective of not flying into the numerous cubes scattered around the track. At first, you need a little practice, but once you get used to it, you really get into it. To play, you first choose landscape or portrait mode. (I personally like the landscape mode). Then you choose your difficulty, and 3rd Party Level Pack, (if you have one) that you can download from the internet. Next, you just steer the two-arrow plane in the direction you want, by tilting the phone to the left or right. If you’re lucky, you can make it to the end of the track…If there is one. I’ve personally never seen the end, or even made it close. 

There’s definitely something about this game that just amazes my friends and I. Maybe it’s just the fact that we’re flying a "plane". Or maybe it’s the fact that we are in such control because of the superb technology of the iPhone. Trust me. This is a must have game for all ages. If it’s not just teaching you hand-eye coordination, it’s probably just plain fun.

The only con: The game does not look developed enough. It looks really plain, and not polished to perfection. No wonder it’s free… 

Shootout is a strong word in this case…[blip.tv http://blip.tv/play/_RDIwWuM0kE]

 Yes, it’s your classic slow news day – it is August, after all… (though we have a few things bubbling away, as usual). Meanwhile, here’s a quite cool little Apple TV ad made by a Mac nut as part of a student project…

Joining Google and every other technology company under the sun, Yahoo today announced the Yahoo oneSearch for iPhone.  Although it is a Web Application it mirrors a lot of the functionality of the Google App from the App Store.  From Yahoo’s description:

Find what you need, near you

Yahoo! oneSearch helps you find what you’re looking for, wherever you are. For example, search for pizza in your area and get local restaurants, reviews from other Yahoo! users, and restaurant address and phone details. Ready to eat? Just select the phone icon and you’ll be connected to the pizza joint of your choice. Or, select the car icon and we’ll tell you how to get there.

Want to catch a flick after work tonight? Enter a movie title plus your zip code and get theaters and showtimes near you. See what’s tops at the box office, read reviews from critics and Yahoo! users alike, or check out movie photos and more.

A quick once over shows that it works fairly well, though it is a bit slower than the Google App.  It is however, early on in this race and competition only benefits us, the consumers.  From your iPhone, go here:

http://m.yahoo.com

Oh, he’s promoting Vista! The Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft has hired Jerry Seinfeld, to promote… you guessed it… Vista. From the figures reported, it appears Jerry won’t need to apply for the Bloomingdale’s executive training program, as the Borg is prepared to offer him 10 million dollars to get across this important message: Windows, not Walls. You’ve really outdone yourself this time Microsoft.

In this final attempt to save a dead OS, Microsoft is forgetting one crucial thing: Jerry Seinfeld is a diehard Mac user! The people Microsoft is targeting in these ads, Seinfeld fans, know that Seinfeld is a Mac user because they showed his Mac in every episode, sitting on the back table in his apartment! The people who don’t know this probably don’t watch the show, and therefore won’t relate to the ads because they don’t watch Seinfeld in the first place! And just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, Bill Gates is going to appear with Seinfeld in the ads! Not that there’s anything wrong with that…

If this ad campaign doesn’t come across as just another celebrity getting paid way too much money, and a corporation who is pushing too hard to save a dead product, I don’t know what will. But then again, maybe I do.

Apple has reached a deal to sell the iPhone in Russia, with sales set to begin in October, Reuters explains.

The company has signed up Mobile TeleSystems  (MTS), Russia’s largest mobile phone carrier, as a partner for bringing the iPhone 3G into the country.

Russia already has a huge and burgeoning market for unlocked iPhones, with the leading lights and trend-setters there already prepared to pay huge sums to have the device.

Citing sources, Reuters informs: ""MTS has made an agreement with Apple on the sale of i-Phones," the source said. "Sales are likely to begin in October.""

Neither Apple nor MTS would comment on these claims, when approached by Reuters.

The news follows claims earlier this week that VimpelCom, Russia’s second-largest mobile-phone company, and MegaFon, the third, may soon also sign deals to start selling iPhones. We’re not clear yet if this means all three companies were competing for this, or if Apple plans a blanket strategy for the country.

 I just watched the new Mac and PC ads Apple posted, and thought I’d share my thoughts on each one.

The Financial Times reported last March that Apple was in the midst of lining studios up for an unlimited subscription plan to offer iTunes customers at a flat rate.  Jordan Golson at the Industry Standard is reporting that numerous websites have been receiving word that this is set to go down soon, with half of the currently available iTunes library at subscriber’s disposal.

The subscription will be for one-year and be available through iTunes or a retail box, similar to how MobileMe/DotMac is sold. The subscription would cost $129.99 on its own, $179.99 with MobileMe or $99.99 for existing MobileMe subscribers. The site claims a late September announcement with late October rollout, just in time for the holiday season.

We know there will be an iPod event next month.  What better time to announce the service?  Would any of you be interested in this type of service to go along with MobileMe?  It might just fit into the master plan.

Apple and Nike are definitely cooking something up for Nike+, with both companies working together on a batch of initiatives to popularise their integrated solutions, and new and enhanced software in the works.

Today we’ve seen leaked screenshots of the application, and have learned that a future version of the Nike+ software will integrate support for Google Maps inside its in-development application for the iPhone.

"We’ve known that Nike+ has long been in development for the iPhone. Now we’re finally getting a peek at the first shots of the interface. From what we can skim, Nike+ users will get all of the nifty performance graphs right on the phone," Gizmodo says, revealing the plans.

We’re already imagining that the new support may even extend to GPS, meaning teams of runners will conceivable be able to race against each other while keeping track of their position in the field. We’re also curious as to the social networking features that may, or may not, debut in the future device – will friends and family be able to watch your progress as you run through their computer?

Oh yes, even the most athletic reader shouldn’t hold their breath for the release of this application – iPhone France (which revealed the shots) says the software is still unstable.

According to NetApplications, iPhone browsing marketshare is on a strong upward trend since the release of iPhone 3G (no surprise there).  What is interesting is the usage patterns by day.  If our calculations are correct, iPhone usage on the weekends sees a 50-70% spike. 

That means that iPhone users might be *gasp* using their iPhones for pleasure and not just work.  We’d expect to see an opposite trend for corporate email-focused devices such as blackberries.

Napster-suing digital laggards, rock band Metallica, have finally made their complete catalogue available through iTunes outside of North America.

The band last month quietly made the entire Metallica back catalogue available through iTunes in the US and Canada, saying of the lack of international availability: "Our record company overseas doesn’t seem to want to play ball with us on this at the moment. Hopefully this will get sorted out ASAFP, but we didn’t want our fans in North America to have to wait any longer while our overseas record company tries to get their shit together!

On the move to make music available through iTunes after years working hard to control online access to their music, the band said, "Over the last year or so, we have seen an ever-growing number of Metallica fans using online sites like iTunes to get their music. So, in continuing with the tradition of offering our albums for sale online (which we’ve been doing for a few years through various sites), as well as making our live concerts available for download in their entirety (through the livemetallica.com site), we are now offering fans the opportunity to obtain our songs individually."

The band has also boosted the catalogue by adding a selection of previously unavailable tracks to the collection included within their first four albums.

Meanwhile, in related news, a track from the bands soon-to-ship album, Death Magnetic, has appeared across file-sharing networks. The band’s ninth album is set for official release on September 12.

OK, we gave Consumerist guy a bit of sass when he said his iPod Nano blew up and almost burned his neighborhood down.  Turns out he might have had something there.  Apple today admitted that a very small percentage of Gen 1 nanos might have a defective battery:

 "Apple has determined that in very rare cases batteries in first generation iPod nanos sold between September 2005 and December 2006 can overheat causing failure and deformation of the iPod nano. Apple has received very few reports of such incidents (less than 0.001 percent of first generation iPod nano units), which have been traced back to a single battery supplier. There have been no reports of serious injuries or property damage, and no reports of incidents for any other iPod nano model.

Any first generation iPod nano customers who have experienced their battery overheating should contact AppleCare for a replacement. Any other customers who have concerns about their first generation iPod nano battery should also contact AppleCare."

We wonder if they will give out the rainbow Nanos as replacement?

It looks like iTunes wants to update our iPhone to version 2.0.2.  Will it be more stable?  Will it fix the issues that Stevo said existed?  Will it break Netshare (Update: No)?  How about jailbreaking?  Inquiring minds want to know.  How’d it go for you?