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For the last two weeks, I've been participating in two threads on Apple's support forums. Like many of the users there, I saw the backup time for my iPhone go from a few minutes to over two hours. This is completely unacceptable, and I've been meaning to write about it, but simply haven't had the time. Now I do.

I created a list of all the third-party iPhone apps that I have installed right now. Contact me if you have suggestions for additional apps that fit my taste.

» My Third-Party iPhone Apps List

Erica Sadun has tried Pwnage for iPhone firmware 2.0.

iPhone developers are complaining that Apple has not figured out a way to allow them to have others beta test their software. This is, as expected, making it hard for the developers to fix issues with their applications. As a result, users are giving apps bad reviews, harming the reputations of the developers and making the apps less attractive even after they have been fixed.

Okay, so I decided a few months ago that I would get the new iPhone 3G as soon as it was available. What I didn't count on was the level of stress that would be involved in purchasing a phone.

Now that I have my new iPhone 3G, and have sold my original iPhone on eBay, it is time to remove my data from the old iPhone. Since a simple restore of the iPhone using iTunes does not remove your personal data from the device (it is still there, lurking around, and can be accessed by someone with the proper knowledge), a secure wipe is important to me.

Last week, I wrote about the possibility of third-party Web browsers appearing on the iPhone when the AppStore launches next month. It seems that Apple beat me to it, including a few lines in their iPhone SDK agreement that may make this impossible, at least when it comes to plug-in support and rendering engines not based on Apple's own WebKit engine.

It is another sad day for liberty, justice, and democracy, as Zimbabwe opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, pulls out of the runoff election against that nation's leader, President Robert Mugabe. Citing the escalating violence and the possibility that those who vote for him will be murdered by government officials, Tsvangirai announced his decision at a news conference on Sunday.

I found this excellent article by Mike Elgan over at Computerworld.com that details two reasons why it is not unethical, nor should it be illegal, to use someone else's open WiFi for your own Internet activities.

Former Republican and current Libertarian candidate for President of the United States, Bob Barr, has changed his mind on the infringement of personal liberty. A former supporter of the USA PATRIOT ACT, he now finds himself against the bill, stating, "In the past I was willing...to accept a greater degree of government involvement in infringing liberty because we did have a fairly large reservoir of liberty we still had available to us. That's no longer the case."