The iPhone DevTeam have finally gotten around to deliver the first set of changes to their Apple homebrew jailbreaker PwnageTool. Version 1.1 features several welcome additions which can be automatically updated from the previous version using PwnageTool's built-in updater. More details on this in our full article.

Download: PwnageTool 1.1

Those looking for other instant messaging applications to use on the iPhone can check out Alexander Chukov's iChabber, a homebrew chat application for the iPhone meant to support most of the popular chat clients. It currently works with Google's Gtalk, but compatibility with others will follow shortly. More details in the full article.

If you're still not satisfied with the amount of YouTube support your favorite Apple gadget has to offer, Chimoosoft's TubeTV gives users an interesting alternative for those of you who want to download, organize, and convert your .flv videos. This freeware application includes extended features such as organizing your videos and converting them into a higher quality format. For more information, you can check out the full article for a full list of its features.

 Word on the street is that everybody's favorite Max OS X-based instant messaging system has now been updated to version 1.2 Beta 6. There's quite a lot of changes for the app - you can view the more recent ones in the full article.

Download:Adium v1.2 Beta 6

Some developers are being rumored to be in possession of early versions of Apple's upcoming iPhone and iPod touch software developer kits. This according to Electronista.

These developers are reported to have gotten more advanced yet still rough versions of the current web-only solution. The SDK will become officially available to the development community in February next year.

New details have come in for the Google phone whose rumors have been going on and off for some months now. The Google phone is coming, but not as a competitor to the messiah of all phones, the iPhone. Instead, it aims to compete with Microsoft's Windows Mobile service.

Google's objectives are expected to be more software based, aiming to expand their advertising services, rather than competing with the hardware of the iPhone. It's also expected that they'll be migrating their Internet applications to run on the mobile platform. The advertising function is theorized to subsidize part of the phone's cost.

What new functions can they offer the mobile scene though? Most mobile carriers declined to comment on the subject, but as Arun Sarin of Vodafone points out, Google is already accessible from a number of devices, "you don't need a Google phone to do that." Some also speculate that its reception in the mobile world may not be as successful as on the Internet.

The Google phone won't be limiting its services to only one mobile carrier like the iPhone. Analysts also suspect that Google won't be making the phone itself but will only offer its software to manufacturers. Their software will be based on open-source Linux software, according to executive informants who wish to remain unnamed.

As a collaborative effort on the part of the Google Calendar team and the mobile team, Google Calendar was retrofitted for iPhone use, since it can browse Google Calendar through the phone's second generation network. The Official Gmail Blog claimed that Google Calendar will sport the different calendars in their distinctive colors over your mobile phone.

This adds to Google's efforts to cater to many communities out there, no matter what the platform. You may recall that Google Reader Wii-fied itself for Internet surfers over the Nintendo Wii's Internet Channel, so this approach toward the Apple community would certainly be no surprise.

We'll have more developments on this as they come in. Keep your eyes glued to this space for updates.

A bit of bad news for Google Video users: the media you rented or bought from the web giant's online store will no longer be viewable after the site is shut down by the parent company.

Google said there will be no refunds for any of the transactions, but compensation will come in the form of credits in Google Checkout, the company's online paying service.

The decision to shut the site down came after top officials decided that the Google Video service has become irrelevant due to the success of YouTube, which it also owns and uses to sell videos.

The move was branded as a big mistake by analyst David Card of Jupiter. He also added that the shutdown and the no-refund policy are making consumers more wary of digital media purchases.

"We've seen a physical format-device combo go out of manufacture before: wax cylinders, 8-tracks," says Card. "But can you think of any consumer-purchased medium that actually becomes unusable while there are players that still work?"

 

Have you fired up your Adium messenger recently? Well, I did just a few hours ago, and lo and behold, it's a version update! The Adium ducks are now quacking up to version 1.1! Although the previous update was released just a month ago, Adium v1.1 has actually been in the making for about a year now.

In fact, one of the biggest changes in this version comes all the way from 2006, built on a student project in the Google Summer of Code. The project has been incorporated into Adium v1.1 in the form of PSMTabBarControl, which allows you to customize your tabbing preferences on the fly. Here's the lowdown of that feature:

• You can arrange your tabs on any side of the message view, not just the bottom. Tabs are arranged vertically when you put them on the left or right edge of the window and horizontally when you put them on the top or bottom.
• Tabs handle overflow better by presenting a chevron (») menu, just like toolbars do.
• Tabs are now spring-loaded, so that if you drag something to a tab that isn't active, it will activate, so that you can position the thing you're dragging precisely within the inputline.
• You can have each tab display the number of unread messages, if any.

Of course, there's more to this, but the Adium team is encouraging all of us to discover the other new toolbar tweaks. Other notes from the changelog include the usual bug fixes and improvements. Aside from it being prettier and faster, there's also the following:

• Changes in the contact list, such as people coming online and going offline, animate smoothly.
• The contact list's ability to hide like the Dock at the edge of the screen has been improved.
• A new type of AdiumXtra, the menu bar icon xtra, has been created to let you customize the appearance of Adiumy in your menu bar; you can download AdiumMenuBarIcons packs from AdiumXtras.com.
• Buzz on Yahoo! and nudge on MSN are now fully supported.
• AIM DirectConnect should be more reliable and less memory intensive; it is now automatically initiated as needed.
• You can now import accounts and chat transcripts from iChat.
• Adium now warns you if you run Adium from the disk image. This will especially benefit new Mac users who aren't accustomed to working with disk images.
• Right-to-left text is handled property on MSN.

Download: Adium v1.1

We all knew that Apple is planning to release iLife before October but what we didn't expect is for it to be  officially unveiled this early. In fact, the Cupertino-based company came up with a press release the other day, officially announcing the new build for suite of digital lifestyle applications to the world.

"Apple has taken iLife '08 to a new level that is years ahead of anything available for the PC. We think iLife '08 gives Mac users even more reasons to love their Macs, and PC users even more reasons to switch," commented Apple CEO Steve Jobs. The following are the general changes applied to the program:

• iPhoto 08 automatically groups all photos into Events, each containing a day's worth of photos represented by a single picture
• iMovie '08 can import video from the latest AVCHD, HDV and DV camcorders, as well as from digital cameras, and displays a user's entire video library whether itÂ?s stored on internal or external drives
• .Mac Web Gallery is fully integrated with iPhoto '08 and iMovie '08, letting users share their photos and movies on the web with just a few clicks.
• iWeb '08 offers new features to make websites more interactive by adding live web widgets such as Google Maps, targeted ads using Google AdSense and photos or movies from .Mac Web Galleries
• GarageBand '08 offers powerful new features for more advanced musicians, including multi-take recording to capture the best performance, arrangements to cut, copy and paste intros, verses and choruses, and support for 24-bit audio interfaces

iLife is currently on sale for suggested retail price of US$ 79 through the Apple Store, Apple's retail stores, and Apple authorized resellers. If you want to know more about the latest version, click on our Read link below. It should take you to Apple's dedicated page for iLife 08.