If you're trying to find a good third party IRC client application for you iPhone, then you might want to take a look at developer mbr4nes' colloQ v0.11. This new IRC app was based on the previously released IRC homebrew app mColloquy and improves many of its features. You can read up on the exact details of colloQ in the full article.

Download: colloQ v0.11

Talk about a double-whammy for the iPhone scene... in a good way. Word is out on the street that the iPhone is now benefit ting from the release of a native Instant Messaging client, and a native IRC client.

The IM client, ApolloIM, was developed by Arminius. And while this first release has been reported to be a a buggy beta, it will allow users access to AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) on their iPhone.

Arminius states that soon to come is a vibration function to alert users of incoming IMs. Further along, the developer is also compiling the libPurple instant messaging client. This is hoped to endow the iPhone with more features in the near future.

The second app, iRCm, is an IRC client by Chris Lott (aka pogi). According to the author, "you can join channels with /join and you can do raw irc commands with /raw for those that know what they're doing." We've provided a download for both clients here, although we strongly advise users to drop by each developer's home site for further information, or if you want to provide Arminius or pogi with some much-needed feedback.

Download: Arminius' ApolloIM (Beta) for the iPhone
Download: pogi's iRCm for the iPhone

Remember the iPhone's "Hello" ad that was aired during the Oscars? Well, it's doing more than just a "Hello" now. The #iphone IRC channel just cracked into the system to bring users the first ever non-official iPhone application: a Hello World exploit.

As these hacks go, all it does is display the text "Hello World" on your screen and does nothing else. While the serial has been cracked into a few weeks ago, the happy family of #iphone has now released the actual binary of the Hello World app.

The source demo of the GUI app is available online and easily found if you're resourceful. And with that source code, who knows where the hacking can lead to. You can build onto the source with the tools created by the #iphone family - which are also available online, mind you.

You can't deny how impressive these guys are for having pulled off the feat. Only time will tell now how far their exploit can go.

There's a bit of controversy surrounding a TUAW report that a British iPhone user was able to get an AT&T SIM to adopt a local Vodafone number, enabling him to use the iPhone outside the US with an American SIM.

Apparently, the user was excited about the iPhone and got it even though he could only use it with AT&T activated by iASign. Realizing the futility of having his US number in the UK, he went to the Vodafone store and had the people there add the phone to his account. Amazingly, the Vodafone-enabled AT&T SIM worked great on the iPhone. The screen flashed AT&T but the number was localized and SMS was working well.

According to TUAW, users in IRC have been discussing how this could have happened and if there was any truth in it. Most chatters say that it shouldn't have worked because of regional and technical restrictions. Apple has not commented on the topic so far.

TUAW reports that they tried to have the same procedure done in Canada but the Rogers store there would not touch the SIM. We'll keep you posted for more on this issue and other exploits as they come.

Last night was a historical night for iPhone, or at least it was for underground developers. Reportedly, a new tool known as iPhoneInterface was developed allowing owners to manipulate the different features and services of Apple's newest baby.

The said tool was released over at the #iphone-talk and #iphone-mac channels on "irc.osx86.hu". Anyway, the developers mentioned that iPhoneInterface is still at its early stage so consumers shouldn't expect a lot from it.

Despite that, it seems that the new tool is pretty much powerful as it can do the following things among others:

• Windows and Mac tool that allows you to manipulate the iPhone's state
• Launch services
• Interact with the iPhone file system
• Scan the iPhone file structure
• Create and remove folders
• Start iPhone services

We understand that a new public subversion server will be opened over at IRC later dedicated to iPhoneInterface. If you want more info regarding this, the most we can say is go over the above mentioned channels and tune in to discussions. We are not certain if Apple has heard about this one yet and we are awaiting the company's official statements as well.