Today Apple released iPhone Firmware version 1.1.1 via iTunes and it appears to be pretty nasty toward unlocked and otherwise hacked iPhones. According to Gizmodo and Engadget the update re-locks unlocked phones and renders the brilliant AppTapp installer and other third-party applications useless....

I'd rather have AppTapp installer over the iTunes WiFi Store any day. I'm going to stick with firmware v.1.o.2, thanks.

This afternoon, Apple released iPhone update v1.1.1. The update carries with it an ominous warning. "If you have modified your iPhone's Software, applying this software update may result in your iPhone becoming permanantly inoperable." As quite a few had feared, Apple has completely disabled the ability to install 3rd party applications. Among other things, new in this update is the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store which allows over-the-air downloads of tracks from the iTunes Store.

iPhones which previously had 3rd party applications installed do not seem to be bricked. Using this update on unlocked iPhones will result in an "Incorrect SIM" message....

If you rely on 3rd party applications or a SIM unlock, do not update your iPhone until a workaround has been found.

Don't say you weren't warned. After cautioning customers earlier this week that unlocked iPhones may be disabled when installing future Apple software updates, the company on Thursday made good on its warning.

Two iPhones in the Macworld offices that had the SIM hacks applied to them were disabled after installing iPhone Update 1.1.1. The update process went through without a hitch, however, when the phone restarted an activation message appeared that said, "Insert an unlocked and valid SIM to activate iPhone."

If you have unlocked - for use on a carrier other than AT&T - your iPhone and want to restore it (because of troubleshooting issues or other reasons) while avoiding firmware/software update 1.1.1, which may cause your iPhone to become non-functional, use this method to restore using iPhone firmware 1.0.2 instead...

The biggest annual gathering of Mac fans on the planet - the Apple Expo - opened in Paris on Tuesday. But even though organizers expect 70,000 people to attend over the course of the week, the Mac-head-in-chief, Steve Jobs, is not on the schedule....

Even more of a disappointment for those attending the major European showcase for Apple products is that there aren't even iPhones on display, although some may be tucked into the pockets and backpacks of expo visitors from American shores. Nor is Orange displaying at the expo.

What gives? Yet another mystery from the Cupertino, California, company whose public relations hallmarks are secrecy, surprise and seduction. The main players in the drama, Apple and Orange, aren't talking about what is going on behind the scenes.

Despite the confident predictions that Apple would announce something in Paris on Sept. 20 - or Sept. 24, at the latest. Despite the 70,000 Parisians and other visitors expected this week at Apple's largest trade show in Europe. Despite the fact that France Télécom CEO Didier Lombard told a reporter in Hanoi last week that he and Apple had a deal (which led InformationWeek to run a headline that read Apple's iPhone is Launched In France, Via Vietnam.)

Despite all this, Steve Jobs is not at the 2007 Apple Expo in Paris and neither is the iPhone. And it now seems likely that the annual trade show, which opened on Tuesday and ends on Saturday, will come and go without a word from either Apple or Orange about their plans to roll out the iPhone in France. (Requests for comment from Apple have not yet been answered.)

France Telecom and Apple are struggling to come to an agreement on the distribution of the U.S. group's iPhone in France, Challenges reported on Thursday on its website.

UK-based VoIP provider Truphone last night demonstrated its ability to place a VoIP call from an Apple iPhone, as well as some Facebook integration.

Unlike other VoIP demonstrations, which rely on call-backs and the voice channel, this is a real VoIP client, running as a native application on the iPhone (and thus requiring the phone to be unlocked for the installation of applications, though not to be able to use a different SIM).

Don't do it!!!!!Apple, as expected released the iPhone 1.1.1 software update today. Initial reactions are that it breaks the anySIM hack and Installer.app so this is a one way street. We know it is tempting to hit the red button and download and install but hold on just one second while we let you take a gander at the pluses and minuses.

Although Apple's iconic iPhone is not yet available outside the US officially, a Saudi software developer has said he is more than half way done with a project that would give Arabic-language support to the hyped phone.

Yusuf Omar, a network consultant in Jeddah, told Arab News he and his team have nearly completed 60% of a project which would provide Arabic-language support.

"We are not hackers, we are developers," the newspaper quoted Omar as saying. He added that the project also allows the iPhone to use Unicode and Windows' own language support for Arabic script.

Last week, we were reporting about the obvious manufacturing problem of the new iPod nano identified by a LCD display not aligning with the black frame:

Today, we received a new report from Thomas, one of our readers from UK:

I saw your article about the iPod nano having a tilted or wonky screen recently, yesterday I went down to the London Regent Street - Apple Store to preorder my iPod Touch (8GB), and whilst I was there I had a look at the Nanos that they had on display - every last one had a wonky screen, without exception.

Here's a fairly clear photo of just one of them that I managed to take before they asked me to put my camera away.

The chief attraction of the touch is the Web browser which technology is shared with the iPhone and is by far the best on any handheld device. None of the others let you magnify or shrink the contents of a large Web page by spreading or pinching your thumb and index finger, or drag a page just by touching the screen. However, the touch shares a major defect with the iPhone: the inability to play Adobe Flash.

The new iPod touch from Appleis in a class by itself. It's like an iPhone, only without the phone. It's a music player, though not your best choice if that's what you're looking for. It's a wonderful video player and Web browser, despite certain limitations. Most important, it's beautiful, and I bet it sells like crazy, even at US$299 for an 8-gigabyte version and $399 for 16GB.

The touch screams out for comparison to the iPhone, which costs the same as the 16GB version but offers half the storage. The new iPod has the same general appearance, with a similar 3.5-in. display, but is shorter, noticeably thinner, and features the iPod's trademark polished metal back. Its basic software is the same as the iPhone's, though tweaked in some interesting ways. WiFi is the only wireless option.....

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