The facts

• There's an Apple event on October 14 and we will be there to liveblog the pants out of it.

• Long overdue, a new MacBook line will be unveiled, with newly-designed MacBooks and MacBook Pros.

• Remember that Apple told resellers not to stock MacBooks or iPods (this was just before the Let's Rock announcement).

The logical and probable rumors

• The MacBook Air, being a recent design, will probably get a features bump, but not a redesign. This could to be supported by price cuts during the summer.

• Despite the pretty mock ups, the MacBook and the MacBook Pro will probably look like the MacBook Air, but on a different scale. In previous generations, there was always a new model that introduced a new look, then the rest followed up.

• Several images of the base top, the base bottom and the display frame of the MacBook Pro have surfaced. It is still not clear if these images are real or not, even while they do look real indeed.

• Some people alleged that these images show a shell carved out of a single piece of aluminum, using a new and revolutionary manufacturing process code-named "Brick".

• However, there are several reasons to believe this may not be the case, starting with an Apple patent detailing a new welding process. However, both manufacturing techniques may have been combined for this product.

• The MacBook in the teaser invitation may be the 13-inch model. Assuming the Apple logo is the same size as before, that is. They have changed its size before.

• Following Apple's commitment for greener computers, all displays in the upcoming MacBook line may be LED-based.

Crazy rumors and wishful thinking

• The usual blurry MacBook spyshots have appeared, some of which, like this one, have been proven to be fake.

• The glass iPhone trackpads are most probably just that, fake.

• Some crazy people really wish to see a touch notebook.

• There's even more crazy people that think that a semi-transparent MacBook Pro may appear, based on an Apple patent.

• Some really really crazy people have been dreaming about tablet Macs since 2007 and before.

Bloom: Highlight of the week here at Gizmodo HQ is Bloom, Brian Eno and Peter Chilver's generative music app in action above (crank up the sound!). Touch the screen and create instant loops in a Music For Airports piano style which will degenerate and evolve in real time. You can also watch it do its own thing, creating a generative loop that's always different. Because why shouldn't a few spare minutes in line or on the can be enhanced by improvisational iPhone-assisted ambient sketches? Take the pain away...for $4.

RjDj: In a similar vein and just released today is RjDj. It records sounds from your environment via the iPhone's mic and then processes them into a playback loop, adding delay and shifting pitch according to preset "scenes." The effect is really, really cool, even just walking around the house. An ice cream truck rolled by my open window and I almost fell over, just now. There's a free version with one scene, and a $3 version adds another processing scheme. Check out the video above for some serious beatboxing with RjDj—neat stuff. Thanks, Gaby!

i.TV: Your weekend needs a well-structured plan for backlit entertainments. And thankfully the value quotient is very high with the free i.TV, which is a nicely designed TV schedule app that does a lot. Aside from giving you a nice schedule grid, it also pulls descriptions, reviews and images from each show, YouTube trailers for any movie on TV, and allows you to bookmark individual shows, channels or genres to keep track of them individually. Oh, and it also finds nearby movie theaters for showtimes and trailers for current theater runs, too. Free.

iNietzsche: Your sensory deprivation hovel also needs Nietzsche, obviously. iNietzsche provides a random quotation from our favorite nihilist at varying levels of translation precision. Free.

CameraBag: And for when it's time to go back into the world, CameraBag. It's not new this week but I want to right the wrong of missing it by mentioning it here anyway, because it's very cool. There are a lot of cheap-o photo effects apps in the store, but CameraBag is the first I've seen to add unique effects from actual classic cameras/film types to your iPhone's pics. You can add the distinctive vignetting of a Holga, a nice Kodachrome color effect, and a few others. Sure you could do all of this in Photoshop too, but CameraBag is a one-stop shop. $3

This week's app coverage on Giz:
•A sneak peak at the forthcoming South Park iPhone app shows downloadable show clips, wallpapers, contact icons and looks generally great. No streaming episodes though, yet.

•A nifty trick blocks ads in mobile Safari, for jailbreak only.

•Those greedy sonsabitches at MLB.com are already selling next season's version of the MLB at Bat baseball news and stats app, because you're forced to buy the same app again for each new season.

•TouchType adds a highly desired feature—the ability to use the landscape keyboard for emails for 99 cents.

•iPhone OS 2.1 is caught scrimping on the email downloads while in sleep mode.

•And a peak into the innards of the iPhone software 2.2 beta reveals Street View for Google Maps, the ability to turn off auto-correct while typing and Japanese emoji icons.

This list is in no way definitive. If you've spotted a great app that hit the store this week, give us a heads up or, better yet, your firsthand impressions in the comments. And for even more apps: see our previous weekly roundups here, and check out our original iPhone App Review Marathon. Have a good weekend everybody.

The specific models affected are MacBook Pros with the GeForce 8600M GT manufactured between May 2007 and uh, last month. You know you've got a crappy video card if you see screwy or scrambled video, or worse, no video, even if the computer is turned on. Apple will fix any Nvidia graphics card problem for free within two years of the original purchase date. If you've had to pay to get the problem fixed before, Apple will give you a refund.

The fact that Nvidia apparently misled Apple is deeply disturbing, especially as they counter the Inquirer's continuing reports about defective chips. If you've had video problems with MBP, raise your hand please.

Here's what Nvidia says for their side:

We've worked diligently with Apple, as we have done with all of our customers and partners, to analyze notebooks and determine the cause of such problems.

Our analysis shows that a failure in an Apple MacBook Pro notebook is remote. However, Apple, like other OEMs, decides on their own how to handle their warranty and repair programs, based upon their own quality standards.

Bottom line, we stand by our products, thus the reason why we set aside such a large reserve, and we have and will continue to work closely with Apple and their customers.

[Apple via AppleInsider]

You're more likely than ever to buy a smartphone, not just because they do so much more than dumb feature phones, with real email, decent web browsing and downloadable applications, but because they're cheaper than ever. With the exception of some expensive ass unlocked-but-unsubsidized European models, you generally don't have to pay more than $300 for a balls-to-the-wall smartphone—though the voice plan plus data fees can easily run you $80 or more per month. Here's a rudimentary overview of your choices (more now than ever before), why you might pick them, and why they might suck for you.

ANDROID by Google
The splashy new entrant into smartphone land, Android is Google's Linux-based open source mobile platform meant to bring real, constantly connected internet to phones. Even though it's debuting on a single phone, the G1 from HTC, expect to see the free OS show up on tons of phones, from HTC, Motorola, and others. It's totally modern and powerful, and the fact that it's open source makes it incredibly appealing to some developers, so most signs point to awesome applications and mobile internet.

Why You'll Use It Unlike BlackBerry, iPhone or Windows Mobile, there are no limits on what application developers can do. So its real strength is the power that developers hold—we're hoping to see some of the wildest, most innovative applications hit Android first. You'll have tons of hardware options, from low to high end, and pretty much any input you want—touchscreen, QWERTY, whatever—once the ball gets rolling. This is the ultimate geek phone.

Why It Sucks Developers have to plug a lot of holes right off the bat, like the complete lack of business features. If they fail to come through, it could fall flat. Not as elegant as the iPhone (though it beats, say, Windows Mobile, by leaps and bounds), it still doesn't quite pass the "mom" test.

BLACKBERRY by RIM
Research in Motion's BlackBerry started out as a glorified two-way pager before evolving into what most consider the best smartphone for email. It is also a shining validation of tightly integrated hardware/software model—they make the phones, they make the operating system. Previously it was a phone that corporations gave to people in suits because of its BlackBerry Enterprise Server, which integrates it with a corporation's email, plus its Exchange support and high security. Now, though, it's increasingly popular with real live people. The BlackBerry Bold offers the latest version of the standard OS, while the recently announced Storm uses one modified for a touchscreen.

Why You'll Use It It has the best email experience around—in part thanks to their traditionally awesome keyboards, so the touchscreen Storm is something of a risk. The OS is really to easy use, with everything neatly presented up front using rows and rows of icons. There's a reason it has surpassed Windows Mobile in marketshare and is the corporate drone phone of choice. Also, RIM seems intent on juicing up its already solid dev community, so expect even more great apps in the future. (Catching a pattern with the importance of apps?)

Why It Sucks It's totally closed and proprietary. You've gotta buy a BlackBerry phone to get the OS. If you're not using the Bold, Storm or the Flip Pearl, it's not very sexy and can easily look dated. Also, in past models, the web browsing experience was absolute garbage. Now just finding its stride as a consumer device, it's not as media-centric as some others, but that is fortunately changing as well.

IPHONE OS X by Apple
Some haters still stay that the iPhone isn't really a smartphone, but for all practical intents and purposes it is. Running a stripped down but very real version of Mac's OS X, it's one of the most powerful and modern OSes of the bunch.

Why You'll Use It It's the most attractive and usable smartphone around, period. It has the best mobile internet browser, largely thanks to multitouch navigation. But its killer feature might be its ability to run third-party apps, which come from one of the most vibrant dev communities around, and are often—but not always—actually useful. Not to mention that, as an iPod, it's also the best music phone on the planet—at least until that mystery Zune phone appears.

Why It Sucks For being so powerful and modern, it can't do things even the dumbest phones do, like MMS, or copy and paste, a smartphone standard. Also email and corporate features aren't quite up to BlackBerry standards, lacking email search among other deficiencies. Apple tightly controls it, which might hurt development and innovation. And the whole making a phone call thing itself still kinda blows.

WINDOWS MOBILE by Microsoft
Unlike the iPhone and OS X, the only thing Microsoft's smartphone OS shares with actual Windows is the name. It has its roots in Windows CE and originally went by the Pocket PC moniker before becoming Windows Mobile. Mostly for corporate troopers, the current version number is 6.1, and it comes in touchscreen and non-touchscreen flavors. It recently fell behind RIM's BlackBerry in marketshare.

Why You'll Use It Diehards swear by its power, even if it isn't so easy for Joe Six-Pack to pick up and run with. It runs on handsets from a bunch of manufacturers, and unlike the BlackBerry and iPhone platforms, you can build your own device to run it. So much of the most advanced mobile hardware you'll lay your eyes on runs Windows Mobile, including the HTC Touch HD and Sony Xperia X1. It's got a corporate soul, so it's designed for business users, and it has specialty applications (like in the medical field) that some professionals need and can't get anywhere else.

Why It Sucks There's a reason premiere Windows Mobile handset makers have become increasingly adept at covering up the user interface: It's frankly terrible, especially when it comes to touch navigation. It isn't a great media phone, has a god-awful native browser and doesn't look so hot either. Unfortunately the next version, WM7, is over a year away.

PALM GARNET
Oh, whither Palm. Without getting into the complicated story of Palm's various fits, seizures and splits, the Palm OS goes all the way back to 1996, when it powered Palm's PDAs. All but dead now, its last hurrah was on the Centro before Palm plunged ahead with Windows Mobile. Supposedly work on its Linux-powered follow-up is well under way, but it's been delayed multiple times.

Why You'll Use It Though dated, the Palm OS makes a great starter smartphone, hence the success of the cheaper-than-dirt Centro. The learning curve is shallow and it provides most of the smartphone features you expect, even if it does look like it's still trapped in 1996.

Why It Sucks Uh, it's basically dead. You probably won't see it on another phone post-Centro, Palm's more pricey phones use Windows Mobile, and prospects on the upcoming Palm OS overhaul are dicey. (They should take Android and use it as a powerful foundation for the next Palm OS, but that's just my two cents.)

SYMBIAN by Nokia
Symbian is the world's most popular smartphone platform, thanks to Nokia. The most prominent variant right now is S60. While it doesn't seem so ubiquitious in the US, abroad it's far more common. It powers some seriously sick hardware, like Nokia's N series, and has a solid dev community, though the free side of that isn't as big as on other platforms.

Why You'll Use It Did you miss the "world's most popular smartphone" thing? Buy a Nokia multimedia phone, and you buy Symbian. It offers a lot of the best smartphone features—strong email, web and calendar, plus a large global development community—in a package that is far more usable than Windows Mobile. Also, it works with Macs with far less hassle than Windows Mobile.

Why It Sucks It can be overly complicated, and still not as easy to use as a BlackBerry or the iPhone. If you're not using a really solid piece of hardware, it can be really sluggish. Also, connecting to the web can be annoying. And while it's on handsets from a couple of other manufacturers, for the most part, you had better love Nokia hardware.

And that's pretty much the lay of the land, at least for now.

Something you still wanna know? Send any questions about dumbphones, dumber people or Mark Wahlberg to tips@gizmodo.com, with "Giz Explains" in the subject line.

Apple's just sent out invites for the October 14 MacBook event being held in Cupertino at Apple's headquarters. How do we know it's about MacBook? Well, take a look at the image. The fun starts 10:00 AM, PST. We'll see you there early that morning for our usual entertaining pre-game commentary before the actual Liveblog starts. Looks like we'll get to see which one of those MacBook "brick" rumors will be coming true. We're hoping for the one where Steve Jobs gives all attendees a new car.

Unlike most music-creation apps, it doesn't take an existing musical instrument and cram it awkwardly into the iPhone's interface. Instead, it creates a completely new "instrument" designed specifically for the iPhone. Essentially, you're provided with a colored screen and a quiet drone. As you tap the screen in various places, different tones play depending on where you tapped. They then loop, creating a unique piece of music on the fly, one that changes gradually on its own once you stop tapping.

You can also just let it create music on its own, coming up with a new, unique piece every time you run it. It's also beautiful, with the tones appearing as colored spots that slowly fade. It's as satisfying to actively play with as it is to let do its own thing.

Bloom is available on the App Store now for $3.99, and if you're a fan of ambient music or music in general, you'll be wanting to get it right now. [Bloom (iTunes link) via The Apple Blog; Thanks, Purns!]

The keyboard seems to be identical to the MacBook Air, but with a larger trackpad. The left side houses all the ports (much like the earlier photo), while the right side has a slot for the optical drive. Apple.Pro is responsible for previous case images as well, but only time will tell how accurate their tips are. [Apple Pro via Mac Rumors]

Earlier this week we reported on a rumor about a new "secret" manufacturing technology by Apple. Supposedly code-named "brick", this "revolutionary" process would carve a MacBook shell out of a single block of aluminum. Business Week echoed the unconfirmed information, quoting the usual analysts and citing an Apple patent, implying that the rumor may be true. Today, Engadget published an alleged spy-shot claiming that it looks like a "fancy new MacBook Pro carved out of a single piece of metal." But does it? And does the Apple patent prove anything about this fabled process?

Here's the photo that Engadget thinks is the MacBook Pro made out of a single piece of metal, passed through a Shadows & Highlights and the Levels tool in Photoshop:

Clearly, there's a seam between the top plate and the side plate. Maybe you can argue that the seam is a design feature, but then why bother going with a process that is designed to eliminate seams? A process that, according to the analysts quoted by Business Week, is "very time-intensive" and "expensive"? The original rumor even points out to a completely new factory, which seems to me suicidal in the middle of a recession.

On the other side, the seam may be an effect of the plastic that is on top of the cover, and the top of the laptop may indeed be carved out of a single piece of aluminum. But even if we assume that it is a piece of plastic on top, there are other things to consider in this story.

Business Week argues that the manufacturing technology will allow for a completely new look in the MacBook family. Indeed, when I first heard about the rumor I imagined a wild new shape. Something completely rounded—like the iPhone—in which the componentes would magically slide in and out.

However, the case we are seeing above, while elegant and simple, is not that radically different from what we are seeing now in the MacBook Air or current MacBooks Pro. Instead of having a three-dimensional shape holding the components and ports with a flat lid on top—like we have right now—this image seems to be precisely the contrary, while basically keeping the same look.

This is a perfectly valid option and we are not saying that the image above is not the real McCoy. We are saying that the stories, the "brick" rumor, the "radically" different MacBooks Pros, and the image above seem to be not compatible with each other. That's why one of them has to be false or, at least, divergent from what we have been told so far.

Then, there's a final element in all this: US Patent 7310872, which Business Week quotes in the article as an indication that Apple may be working in this method. However, far from describing the process the brick rumor is referring to, it describes a unique welding process.

A computing device having an improved enclosure arrangement is disclosed. One aspect of the enclosure pertains to enclosure parts that are structurally bonded together to form a singular composite structure. In one embodiment, structural glue is used to bond at least two unique parts together. Another aspect of the enclosure pertains to enclosure parts that are electrically bonded together to form a singular integrated conductive member. In one embodiment, conductive paste is used to bond at least two unique parts together. The improved enclosure is particularly useful in portable computing devices such as laptop computers.

As you can read in the summary and the illustrations in the gallery, this laptop building technique is all about welding and not about carving. According to the description, the new welding method will result in a strong single composite structure. It won't avoid the seams and screws, but it will reduce them. It will also increase the strength of the whole case and avoid the excessive costs of developing the completely new secret factory that the original rumor speculates about.

This welding technique seems like a progressive step, one that will provide a better product to consumers without spending too much money in completely revamped manufacturing during a time of recession. This seems more logical and affordable for a company traditionally obsessed with product margins and keeping costs down. It makes sense.

On the other side, all of it could be true. Maybe the image is real, that's a plastic on top, and the top of the new MacBook is carved out of a single block of aluminum, despite the extra cost, just too look like a simplified Titanium PowerBook, one of the most successful computers in Apple's history. And maybe the new welding technology will serve to put the resulting surfaces together.

Whatever the case is, always remember our first rule of rumors: Never believe them. Specially the ones about Apple.

After your phone restarts, head to Settings>Wi-Fi and hit the arrow next to your home Wi-Fi server. Write down the IP address you see. Then pop back to general settings and set auto-lock to never. On your computer, download this replacement hosts.php file.

Then, using an FTP client like FileZilla or Cyberduck with SFTP (secure SSH connection over FTP), open an SFTP connection with your iPhone's IP address as the host. U/P is root and alpine. The connection will take a bit, and might fail a few times, but say yes to any prompts and keep trying.

At your iPhone's root, navigate to the /etc folder and move the hosts.php file there somewhere on your computer for safe-keeping (don't lose it!). Then replace it with the one you downloaded and restart your iPhone. Now you'll start seeing glorious blank spots or compressed frames wherever ads used to be. It'll nuke ads at most sites serving them through a third-party server. That wasn't so bad was it? One word of caution: Changing the hosts file can play hell with some apps, so watch out there.

The method will work on iPod touches too. Let us know how it goes. [James Is Bored via Lifehacker]

The battery is simply dead, the salesmen will contest. Hold that power button and you'll see the Apple logo flicker for a moment. See? Real iPhone! Or at least, decent iClone! That is, until you open it to replace the battery:

It looks like there are just enough electronic components to light up an Apple logo...powered by a couple of watch batteries. The only thing worse would be if we saw a miniature hamster on a wheel inside. In case you're interested in what a real iPhone looks like when its guts are spilled on the table, check it out here. [English Russia]

What this means for other dock programs, like Stardock, is unclear. Though Apple can be quite aggressive with its patents, it's uncertain whether Apple would even bother going after generic dock programs. Either way, Apple is no doubt happy to have this one in their pocket after a long, long wait. [USPTO via Slashdot]

It's not the final version, so the options are a bit limited, but it's definitely looking good. Here are a couple more screens, but you can see the rest at Boy Genius. Now if Microsoft would just make the Zune compatible, then Macs would finally be just like real computers.

[BGR]

The iPod has sort of lived a long life at number one. Things like, that if you look back to transistor radios and Walkmans, they kind of die out after a while. It's kind of like everyone has got one or two or three. You get to a point when they are on display everywhere, they get real cheap and they are not selling as much.

I have to agree with him that eventually, these wonderproducts die, although looking at the numbers, it seems that it still has a lot of life inside because the consumer electronics market that saw the Walkman and the transistors radio are not the same as today's. But obviously, Apple sees the same thing and the iPhone and iPod touch are efforts to keep the momentum going.

He also had some words for the fanboys out there who never question Apple's decision and defend its failures no matter what:

[Steve Jobs and I] don't like the fact that it's a bit of a religion. I would like to have the users influence the next generation. With a religion you're not allowed to challenge anything. I want our customers to challenge us.

Amen. But maybe some customers are challenging Apple already in products like the iPhone which, without an SDK, saw a flourishing industry of not-official third-party applications that are still coming out to solve the cellphone development's limitations. Woz compares the iPhone SDK limitations to Google's Android in the interview:

Consumers aren't getting all they want when companies are very proprietary and lock their products down. I would like to write some more powerful apps than what you're allowed.

Indeed, Señor Woz, indeed. Head to the Telegraph to check out the rest of this thoughts. [Daily Telegraph]

Podzilla is a little more pricey at $17, but he'll make an excellent guard dog for your nano. Just look at the guy. He's ferocious. [Etsy via Apartment Therapy]

The requirement was written to help consumers dispose properly of batteries, which could end up leaking toxins into landfills. Since Apple tends not to develop unique products for specific regions, it would most likely revamp its entire iPod line if the directive goes through.

That having been said, the directive hasn't been ratified yet, and there's still a chance for Apple to ask for an exemption or modification. The company already offers free recycling for its ipods and iphones, and supports third-party waste management as well. [Apple Insider]

Even though Sprint is the only major carrier actually bleeding out subscribers , they were source of the fewest iPhone 3G AT&T converts—only 19 percent. Surprisingly—and probably gleefully, for AT&T—nearly half came from its biggest and most bitter rival, Verizon. At a 47 percent attrition rate, more fled from it than T-Mobile (24 percent) and Sprint combined, and almost double T-Mobile.

Granted, that's in part due to the fact that Verizon is simply bigger. But besides showing just how much of a boon the iPhone 3G was for AT&T in terms of bringing in new customers, it throws into relief just how much Verizon needs its own headline-grabbing handset—a role they're obviously hoping will be picked up by the BlackBerry Storm. But whether it'll actually pull in new customers, stop some from bolting or just slow 'em down out the door remains to be seen.

In the meantime, iPhone sales swallowed 17 percent of the smartphone market between January and August of this year—largely thanks to the 3G, which shoved it up from 11 percent—pushing past the Curve, Pearl and Centro. Not too shabby.

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y. —(Business Wire)— Oct 06, 2008 According to a new report from The NPD Group, the leader in market research for the wireless industry, 30 percent of U.S. consumers who purchased Apple’s new iPhone 3G from June through August 2008 switched from other mobile carriers to join AT&T, the exclusive mobile carrier for the iPhone in the U.S. By way of comparison just 23 percent of consumers, on average, switched carriers between June and August 2008. Nearly half (47 percent) of new AT&T iPhone customers that switched carriers switched from Verizon Wireless, another 24 percent switched from T-Mobile, and 19 percent switched from Sprint.

“The launch of the lower-priced iPhone 3G was a boon to overall consumer smartphone sales,” according to Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for The NPD Group. “While the original iPhone also helped win customers for AT&T, the faster network speeds of the iPhone 3G has proven more appealing to customers that already had access to a 3G network.”

According to NPD’s “iPhone 3G Report,” before the launch of the iPhone 3G, iPhone sales represented 11 percent of the consumer market for smartphones (January through May 2008); however, after the launch of iPhone 3G, Apple commanded 17 percent of the smartphone market (January through August 2008).

The average price of a smartphone sold between June and August 2008 was $174, down 26 percent from $236 during the same period last year. During June through August 2008, the top four best-selling smartphones based on unit-sales to consumers were as follows:
1. Apple iPhone 3G
2. RIM Blackberry Curve
3. RIM Blackberry Pearl
4. Palm Centro

Methodology: The NPD Group compiles and analyzes mobile device sales data based on more than 150,000 completed online consumer research surveys each month. Surveys are based on a nationally balanced and demographically-representative sample, and results are projected to represent the entire population of U.S. consumers. Note: Sales figures do not include corporate/enterprise mobile phone sales. For more information about NPD’s offerings in this business sector, visit http://wireless.npd.com.

[VPO]

Namely, the ability to turn off the keyboard's auto-correction feature and support for Japanese emoji emoticons—the typically adorable little icons that Japanese teens (and adults?) can't live without. Lack of emoji support has actually been blamed for slower iPhone sales in Japan, so there you go. I'm not sure who would want to live without keyboard auto-correction though—that would take a mastery of multitouch typing that I have yet to see. [Mac Rumors - image is a 'Shop, not the actual implementation]

It wouldn't make sense for Walmart to be in any kind of dealings with a company like Friendship Star International Limited, whose knockoff media players look much like the one above, and it's even more unlikely that they'd permit such blatant copyright and trademark infringement in their stores. What has most likely happened here is that some enterprising young individual purchased an iPod, replaced it with a much cheaper knockoff and returned it to the store for a full refund.
Our tipster tried to explain this to the staff at the store, but didn't have much luck. It'll resolve itself when the unfortunate teenage girl who buys the "iPod" brings it back after she gets tired of watching the Chinese language bootlegs of Two and a Half Men that came on it. -Thanks, Mitchel!

Update: Apple's previously stated that they found a company in China to manufacture their iMacs out of a single piece of aluminum. So, assuming the rumor isn't 100% accurate, this could be a new process with the same company to make MacBooks in a similar way, or Apple found a way to do this themselves with a in-house plant.

Fring: Fring was my favorite IM app back in the jailbreak days, and now it's finally available in the App Store proper, tying together into one app Google Talk, AIM, Skype, MSN, Twitter—just about every IM or IM-like client you can think of, as well as adding VoIP calling when you're connected via Wi-Fi (and not 3G, even though the grab above shows a 3G icon during call). And unlike another recent and solid IM app Beejive (which is $16), Fring is free. Give it a whirl. [via Mobility Today]

Spectrograph Wallpaper: Takes input from the iPhone's mic (or your second-gen iPod touch with microphone-equipped earbuds) and gives you a neat looking spectrograph analysis in a variety of colors, which you can then export directly to your phone's wallpaper. What does a fart look like? Find out for $3.

Rimshot/Cricket Generator: Two classic sound effects, one app! Rimshot for the good jokes, and crickets for the rough ones (watch for Burns's cricket poison). If you ever see this being put to use by anyone claiming to be any kind of comedian real or imagined, chug your drink and leave immediately. Free.

10 Seconds Ago: I'm just going to let the developers explain this one for you:

It does "delay" the incoming sound via microphone by 10 seconds. This gap between the scenery you are currently looking at and the sound you here may give you strange feeling of passing time. You'll find yourself a bit more conscious about the ambient sound in our daily life.

Yes, it's Japanese, in case you were wondering. And free.

Sad Trombone: Maybe this should be a sign that it's about time to wrap it up for the week and get some rest, but the existence of "Sad Trombone" (whaa whaa) made me laugh out loud. Which in itself is a great moment for a sad trombone effect. The irony! $1

This week's iPhone app coverage on Giz:

•Barack Obama's official iPhone app does all kinds of grassroots organizing goodness.

•iPhone-Backgrounder (for jailbreak) gives all apps, even legit ones from the App Store, the much-desired ability to run in the background.

•Flash on the iPhone is hinted at again by the Adobe folks, but progress is still slow waiting for Apple approval.

•Facebook's redesigned now has a shiny new redesigned iPhone app to go along with it.

•Tap Tap Revenge will feature NIN songs after an official licensing agreement between the developers and Apple-loving Mr. Reznor.

•We gave Star Wars: The Force Unleashed a hands-on look.

•Microsoft (via subsidiary Tellme, but still) plans to develop an iPhone app for voice-recognition searches.

•Excellent news, this: gone are the "looks cool" app reviews in iTunes, because it is now mandatory that you actually own an app you're going to review. What a concept!

•Heart Monitor measures your pulse with the iPhone's microphone.

This list is in no way definitive. If you've spotted a great app that hit the store this week, give us a heads up or, better yet, your firsthand impressions in the comments. And for even more apps: see our previous weekly roundups here, and check out our original iPhone App Review Marathon. Have a good weekend everybody.

It sorts your contacts by battleground states and turns them into a checklist, making it easy, and almost obligating, to harass your loved ones to vote O. (Worth noting for tinfoil types: It does keep track of how many people you call, but it's totally anonymous.) It finds local events and Obama news using GPS, constantly updated. And it delivers more video highlights and newsreels than you'll be able to stand (though videos were kinda crashy for me). There is some hucksterism, yes, like a dedicated button to call and make a donation—it makes it easier than ever, which is part of the power here. Also it's a campaign app, what do you expect?

This is something like what politicking at the grassroots level will look like by the next election—local and immediate, but definitely national in scope. It makes you feel like a part of the campaign. Download it if you're an Obamaniac to have a constant flood of hope in your pocket, or if you're a McCainite, to see what your candidate's campaign should be doing. It's free, so the only excuse is your gag reflex. [iTunes via Launch Pad]

The patent sounds like it's basically bringing Aperture's monocle view for viewing full-res areas of photos instantly (which is also amazingly useful) to the OS as a whole—hovering over an icon could spring a bubble with four app choices to open that file, or provide other info on what you're looking at.

Apple also seems like they're trying to patent those horrific Snap previews you find on fine blogs everywhere—that blow out a preview version of the webpage being linked to when you hover. That one we can do without. [Apple Insider]

Like copy and paste, the only way to bring system-level functions to the iPhone remains via jailbroken software. If you have the "BigBoss & Planet-iPhones" source loaded, iPhone-Backgrounder should show up as a default install option. Our tipster says he's got Pandora playing while receiving background IMs while syncing at the same time (crazy!). He reports some bugginess with duped IMs and the like, but on the whole it's working as expected. [iPhone-Backgrounder - Thanks Horn!]