If you want to pull up some quick information about your World of Warcraft character (or anyone else's for that matter), why don't you try browsing for it on your iPhone. I'm not talking about the WoW Armory. There's a quicker way for you to do that - on the new and updated version of the Warcraft Characters app for the iPhone.

There's no saying if Apple will finally decide to release iPhone in China, but a recent study might help the company decided. According to the business intelligence and consulting firm Pearl Research, while the road will be tough, Apple has users who'll take up the gizmo. Drop by the full article to learn more.

The Japanese government has revealed that its trade and economy ministry will be conducting an investigation involving Apple's iPod Nano players.

This was prompted when one unit reportedly sparked during charging. Officials believe that the problem lies in the player's battery. More on this after the jump.

With a gadget as popular as the iPhone, you have to expect that there would be a fierce underground market for the product. Because the phone is initially locked unto the AT&T service provider, the market is also hungry for services that unlock the device at a mass scale. One distributor found that his supplier "received" schematics of the device from the iPhone's factory in China, possibly to sell to unlockers. More in the full article.

  

Analysts say that the hype over the Apple iPhone is just too great for the product's own good. They have no idea. The iPhone is so eagerly anticipated that cases of it are already manufactured in industrious China.

Your eyes do not deceive you, these aren't clones or toys that cater to the few who can't wait for the iPhone to come. These are real accessories introduced to the market way before the product even launches.

   

Finding every morsel of information in the worldwide web, the Chinese makers have come up with these babies which were reportedly spotted at the Hong Kong Electronics and Components fair. So, what do we do with these before we actually get the iPhone? Paperweights, perhaps.

The "Green Ranking" by world-lovin' Greenpeace rates the world's consumer electronics industry to determine which company, in quarterly periods, is the most eco-friendly. After returning CEO Michael Dell challenged other electronics manufacturers to provide "takeback" policies on throw-away, useless hardware, it seems that China's laptop brand Lenovo outgreened just about everybody else, except itself.

Now while takeback policies aren't exactly new, only EU member nations have strictly enforced the recycle old hardware policy by asking electronics companies to offer discounts on newer hardware purchases as old, unusable parts were traded in. Greenpeace hopes that companies will adopt this policy worldwide, as did Dell.

Sony (and Sony-Ericsson) are now also complying with chemicals for silicon doping and fire resistance with their elimination of beryllium and phthalates. Unfortunately for Earth-lovers and Captain Planet, only 14 companies are currently included in the rankings.

As a big surprise to all, Lenovo, a China-based firm for electronics and mobile computing, has leaped from last place to top place, despite the massive amounts of e-waste that are generated in China. Greenpeace's International Toxic Campaigner Iza Kruszewska said:

Given the growing mountains of e-waste in China - both imported and domestically generated Â? it is heartening to see a Chinese company taking the lead, and assuming responsibility at least for its own branded waste. The challenge for the industry now is to see who will actually place greener products on the market.

Lenovo could possibly lose the number one spot if the next product that it puts out to market is not free from the worst of chemicals. The top five most eco-friendly of e-companies are as follows:

1. Lenovo
2. Nokia
3. Sony Ericsson
4. Dell
5. Samsung

The ranking takes into consideration the equal treatment of all customers, so if any double-faced takeback policies have been reported, companies suffer rank drops all across the boards. Unfortunately, Apple is the last of all the companies. But good news: Apple hasn't dropped a spot ever since!

More rumors about the release of iPhone has found its way around the internet again. Freshly fueled by a report from the China Economic News Service, T3 has speculated that the iPhone could possibly get an earlier-than-when-everyone-expected release. This is due to the fact that Apple has already asked for parts for the iPhone, which will begin its mass manufacturing next month.

This little detail has led T3 to assume that Apple's probably gotten the green-light from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). With a go-signal for manufacturing, this could also possibly mean that a few "gaps in development" have now been filled in, and that the software for the mobile phone has been finished. Sound logic, T3; personally, I'd like to hope as much for an early release too.

As far as anything official goes, there's no word yet, so we'll keep you guys updated for sure.

Mimicry may be the greatest form of flattery for some, but we doubt that Apple is flattered with this iPod styled mobile phone.  Engadget reports about this iPhone knock off that is currently being sold for roughly £75 (around $150). It looks nothing like the iPhone and to the misinformed consumer, this will look like a really sweet deal.

The iPhone knock-off comes with an iPod like white finish and a Mac OS X wallpaper. A quick visit to the mobile's media player will treat you to a strange Quicktime skin. Also take a good, hard look at the "Apple" logo of iPhone wannabe - yup it has an extra leaf. Buyer beware.

Lots of Apple products have been ripped off and sold for a cheaper price. There was this iPod Nano knock off found in China and there was also this cheap iPod Shuffle wannabe that surfaced months ago. Mimicry may be the greatest form of flattery, too bad it's illegal most of the time.

When we mentioned a China Times report that the iPhone is set to come out on early 2007, we didn't mention that it would be as early as January 15. The website bloggingstocks reported that they received an interesting heads up that the Apple iPhone will be stamped with a January 15 release date.

Speculations also pointed that during the Macworld Expo, which will be from January 9-12, relevant iPhone info would be divulged. Hmm, so piecing those two tidbits together, the bottomline is that the iPhone's release date will be just days after the Macworld Expo.

bloggingstocks' Tobias Buckell even mentioned that this will do a lot of things for Apple. First of, if this rumor materializes, it will trample all the analysts' expectations as to when the iPhone would be available. Second, it will be rapidly available after one of Apple's popular events. Third, it will give the Cupertino-based company a boost in the stock market as investors measure Apple stock based solely on the performance of the iPod.

Hmm, if this rumor proves to be true, I think I'll be replacing my Samsung cellphone with an Apple. Provided that my pockets will cooperate with the price.

If this report is true, by 2007, we'll have a new contraption to tinker with and love. The China Times reported that Apple's hyped and anticipated iPod cell phone will arrive either on the late first quarter or early second quarter of 2007. According to the said report, the device will merge iPod technology with traditional cell phone capabilities and will reportedly sport a 2 mega pixel camera.

The report also mentioned that Foxconn will begin delivering around 500,000 - 600,000 iPhones per month beginning in February 2007, to the Steve Jobs camp, from their Fushikang manufacturing facility.

This indicates that the Apple mobile thingamajig will initially be available only in a single model. Aside from that, the makers of the iconic iPod reportedly enlisted the guidance and expertise of several component suppliers in the hope that they would bring fresh inputs and ideas to the table.

Some of these tapped "experts" is Foxconn's subsidiary AlusTech, which will be helping out in the fabrication of the digicam module; Largan, which will supply the camera lens; and Micron which will take care of the CMOS image sensor. There were also reports that big-time companies such as Intel, Sharp, Tripod Tech, Broadcom, and Sunrex will also be on board as they will help out in the memory, LCM display, circuit board, baseband chip and keypad. Surely, Apple is not taking any chances on this one.

And since the iPod has become so popular largely because of its sleek design, the Cupertino based company also asked for the help of Catcher Tech to mold and manufacture the phone's outer housing. 

With all that info, we think that the only missing tidbit here is the price tag. Let's wait for more developments as the days come by.