Jalopnik lists the 25 most useful car technologies and I tend to agree with all of them, save one:

• Rain-X (there is Rain-X wiper fluid now, which refreshes the treatment when you use power washers)
• Airbags
• Anti-lock Brakes
• Traction and Stability Control
• Muffler Valves
• Clean Diesel
• SynchroRev Match (found on the Nissan 370z)
• iPod/iPhone integration
• Variable valve timing, event and lift systems
• Radar/Laser detectors (illegal in Ontario)
• Heated Seats (my last car didn’t have these)
• Lightweight materials (carbon fiber)
• Crumple zones
• Stop/Start Engines
• Satellite Weather and Traffic Reports (I don’t think any of these systems work in Canada)
• Pushbutton locking differentials
• Turbocharging (woohoo!)
• LED lights
• Torque vectoring differentials
• Direct Fuel Injection
• Real power outlets
• Folding hard tops
• Hood scoops (wtf?)
• Adaptive headlights
• Regenerative Braking

I’m not sure about hood scoops, but the rest of the list is pretty cool. Recently I bought a new car, and it was nice to have features that my old car didn’t have, like adaptive lights, turbocharged direct-injection engine, heated seats and iPhone integration. Technology is wonderful.

The blogs have been noticing the switch in Apple’s references to their latest smartphone. Instead of the “iPhone 3G S” they used during launch, the nomenclature has recently been changing to “iPhone 3GS”. It’s a small change, but somewhat significant. Why would Apple make a major change to the naming of a product after it’s launch? My theory is this: Google.

Search engines work by using search terms. And by using Google to search without a space is a much more specific search and brings up more accurate references to the proper phone. Search for “3G S” and the results will include references to both the old version and the new version. The fact that Apple’s site is slowly reverting to the search friendly term on their own website seems to indicate a recent change has happened regarding the branding.

The better thing to do would have been to create a new name entirely, dropping the 3G or adding a word to it. But we’re stuck with it now. Or at least until next July when iPhone 4.0 comes out.

Boy Genius Reports, again the best blog for mobile news, is quoting the following Rogers text about upgrading if you bought an iPhone last year:

There has been a lot of excitement around the new iPhone 3G S and we wanted to recognize the early adopters who helped make the iPhone the hottest-selling handset in Canadian wireless history. We will be discounting the price of the iPhone 3G S by between $250 and $500 to provide savings to many of our iPhone customers.

What this means is that eligible iPhone owners can acquire the iPhone 16GB 3G S for as low as $199 or the 32GB for as low as $299 until July 31, 2009.

For Fido customers, we’re offering the Fido Rewards iPhone 3G S promotion. This enables iPhone customers to redeem FidoDollars towards a new iPhone 3G S with an additional $100 top-up from Fido.

For customers who don’t qualify for these extra savings, we are pleased to offer Rogers Wireless customers the iPhone at our cost on rogers.com. This cost – $580 for the iPhone 3G, $680 for the iPhone 3G S 16GB and $780 for the iPhone 3G S 32GB – represents the price we pay for the device plus a nominal fee for the SIM card. Customers can access these devices at retail locations for just $19 more for the three devices.

We’re also happy to announce that Rogers and Fido are extending the 6GB/$30 data promotion until July 31. This offer is valid for customers on a new or existing iPhone plan or customers buying an Android-powered HTC Magic or HTC Dream.

Five ways to save

1) For Rogers Wireless customers who bought an iPhone 3G between July 11 and Sept. 30, 2008, and with an average monthly spend of at least $100, Rogers will provide $500 off the cost of an iPhone 3G S. This special offer expires July 31, 2009 and comes with the addition of a one-year term to the customer’s existing service agreement.

·      16GB 3GS $199
·      32GB 3GS $299

2) For Rogers Wireless customers who bought an iPhone between July 11 and Dec. 31, 2008, but aren’t eligible for the above offer, Rogers will provide $250 dollars off the purchase of an iPhone 3G S. This special offer expires July 31, 2009 and comes with the addition of a one-year term to the customer’s existing service agreement.

·      16GB 3GS $449
·      32GB 3GS $549

3) All Rogers Wireless customers can upgrade to the iPhone 3GS at our cost at Rogers.com, or for a suggested retail price of just $19 more than our cost through our retail channels.

·      8GB 3G $580/$599
·      16GB 3GS $680/$699
·      32GB 3GS $780/$799

4) Fido customers can take advantage of the Fido Rewards iPhone 3G S promotion:
·      Use FidoDollars towards the purchase of a new iPhone 3G S
·      Fido will top up the FidoDollars amount by $100
·      This promotion does not include an extension or renewal of their service agreement.

5) New and existing iPhone customers can take advantage of a limited-time promotion of 6GB of data for $30, now extended until July 31. Other Rogers and Fido data plans will remain the same, including the only national standalone data plan at $25 per month for 500 MB. We know that this is the right plan for most Canadians – 93 per cent of current iPhone customers on a data plan use less than 500 MB of data per month.

One of my favorite mobile blogs, Boy Genius Reports, just found out the non-contract price of the new iPhone 3G S.

• $799 32gb
• $699 16gb

Those of you that committed to 3 year contracts for the iPhone 3G better save your pennies.

Let’s get this out of the way first, it’s available on June 19th at Rogers. Unfortunately Rogers has not updated their website with any description and they did not lower the price of the old 3G to $99 like AT&T did.

Although the outside isn’t much different, inside there are many changes both in hardware and software. A better processor and memory are suspected, but not confirmed by Apple at the WWDC today. Instead they focused on showing off the new functionality of the iPhone and iPhone OS including:

• Faster applications (new CPU and memory?)
• Records video
• 3MP camera with autofocus, autoexposure and white balance control
• Voice Control (including voice dialing)
• Compass
• Cut, Copy & Paste
• MMS
• Search
• Tethering
• Voice Recorder
• Nike+

See the guided tour at the Apple website for a very lengthy tour of the new phone.

Skype launched today on the iPhone with great fanfare…at least it did south of the border. You cannot get the free Skype app from Canadian iTunes. A report on CBC cited patent restrictions, however you can get Skype on the PC in Canada as well as for Windows Mobile handsets.

Sure, Roger’s has two Canadian “exclusives”, the iPhone and the Blackberry Bold. But recent changes to their pricing and upgrade policies have me rethinking them as the choice for my current smartphone. Not only did they increase prices on all new blackberrys (by as much as $50) but today they increased the time for upgrades from 12 months to 24 months. This is on top of thier new increased fees for cable, internet and wireless service.

Rogers is taking EVERY step possible to squeeze as much revenue as possible from their existing user base. At least we have some choice in the matter. Bell isn’t standing by and has aggressively been promoting both cable and internet service to my building. GlobalLive is holding onto a large chunk of spectrum and itching to get into the wireless service in Canada. We have long memories and won’t forget this cash squeeze from Rogers – we may not leave right away, but when the time comes, we will leave and never look back.

There’s some rumors going around on the blogs about the details of the iPhone OS version 3.0 that will be announced on the 17th. Here’s what Boy Genius Reports lists:

• MMS
• Tethering via Bluetooth and USB

At first glance, it seems that Palm is behind the eight ball when it comes to fighting it out with Apple regarding the new Palm Pre and it’s iPhone-like interface. Engadget has a great in-depth article that reveals that this doesn’t seem to be the case. Where Palm does seem to violate a specific patent that Apple has, the iPhone seems to infringe on several, not just one, patents that Palm holds.

The new version of iPhone firmware is out. Don’t upgrade if you are jailbroken and/or unlocked as this will probably lock you out until it’s cracked by the “iPhone Dev Team”. Use iTunes to get the latest update if you have a legit phone.