It was all about third party developers and newly unveiled applications during the ongoing Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) event sponsored by Apple. The Cupertino-based company was proud to announce the successful adoption of its recently released iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK), as well as the introduction of its new Internet service entitled "MobileMe". Check out our full article for the in-depth details regarding these Apple tidbits.

Apple just announced that over 100,000 have downloaded the beta iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK). Next stop? More applications and games for the iPhone and iPod Touch, of course! Drop by the full article to learn more.

Will the lawsuits never end? Apple manages to entangle itself once again in another lawsuit, this time filed by Klausner Technologies over the iPhone's Visual Voicemail feature. Details in the full article.

Despite receiving awards here and there, Apple has had many problems with its newest baby iPhone that includes hacking and lawsuits from various business entities around the world.

We got word today that Apple and partner AT&T was recently sued by Klausner Technologies with the latter claiming that the two infringe on its patent over Visual Voicemail service being offered to iPhone users. The full story after the jump!

Hellgate: London, the upcoming online title from Electronic Arts, Namco Bandai and Flagship Studios, has finally gone gold. The game is currently on track to meet its October 31 U.S. release date and its November 2 European release date.

Flagship Studios will also be releasing a single-player Hellgate: London demo tomorrow, October 18, on AOL's Game Daily (gamedaily.com). The demo will be available from other locations on Friday.

The demo will let gamers choose to be Blademasters or Marksmen, two of the game's six classes. After choosing their character's class, gamers will then be able to battle through a small handful of storyline and side quests as they adventure through the streets and tunnels around London's Holborn Station.

Have you ever stumbled upon the website wow.com thinking that it would lead you to the World of Warcraft website? It's a fair assumption since the combination of letters is most known to represent the popular MMORPG. Well if you did go there you might have noticed that's actually not the case, but probably not for long.

Wow.com once belonged to Compuserve and was supposed to host the WOW! initiative by the company, a system that lets parents monitor their kids' online activity. However, AOL bought Compuserve, along with all the rights wow.com but eventually no one found a use for the domain.

Now TechCrunch has been informed by a source that the website has been transferred to AOL Games which in turn will utilize the domain name for its most obvious reference, the World of Warcraft. Should the source prove correct, the website will become a social network dedicated for World of Warcraft players.

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

Want the functionality of an iPhone or iPod but don't want to pony up the cash? Well, your PSP can do whatever these other gadgets can do with ChrisTek and Epixx's iPSP v1.10. ChrisTek called our attention (thanks for the email!) to this program and we're glad that he did, because it is one of the most robust portals we've seen to date.

The iPSP is a portal designed to look and run like an Apple iPhone, and it contains several applications and games for your use. They've fixed some of the previous problems such as the out-of-memory issue that plagued the earlier release. Here's a short list of what you can expect from this program.

• Digg: The Digg application is an easy-route to get to the social-news website, Digg. It's a great site, and I recommend going to it on your PC as well, by going to http://digg.com.
• Photos: The Photos application displays up to ten photos that you choose, at 5-second intervals.
• Calculator: The Calculator application is just that. A calculator.
• Lock: The Lock application is more for eye candy. It's basically a manually-activated screensaver, and is great if you want to show off your sexy PSP's screen. Just try it. You'll think it looks cool too.
• Weather: The Weather application provides easy access to your local weather. It requires a wireless internet connection. Simply input your zip code and, thanks to Weather Underground, your local weather is displayed.
• iPod: The iPod application allows you to listen to music via PSPTunes. iPSP includes PSPTunes installation files if you don’t already have it installed.
• Browser: The EXPEDITION browser is your link to the web, while using iPSP. It has multiple tabs, and all the things you would expect a browser to have. The icon that looks like a book is for your own links, which are read from the PSP’s favorites menu.
• Games: The Games application is very simple, and is your access-way to the Flash games that come with iPSP. Simply choose a game to play it.
• About: The About application gives you legal and creation info about iPSP, as well as your current iPSP version.
• Messengers: The Messengers application is your gateway to the mobile messengers provided by eBuddy. They are: AIM, MSN, and Yahoo!
• Mail: The Mail application is your gateway to the most popular mobile mail providers. The providers are:Yahoo Mail, GMAIL, AOL Mail, and Windows Live mail.
• Vipr: The Vipr application is your gateway to the Vipr Online Media Service. At the time of iPSP's release, Vipr is still in production, so check back frequently for more updates on it's status.

If you plan on downloading it, there's an easy install file in an executable format and a zipped version for manual installation. As with all other homebrew, read the extensive manual that is provided with the program (in both PDF and txt format) to avoid any possible problems with your PSP. Kudos to Chris Tek and Epixx for this awesome program.

Download: iPSP v1.10 executable
Download: iPSP v1.10 zipped
Visit: QJ Development Forums

For the typical globetrotter, a smartphone is perhaps one of the best investments one can make. Having said that, Sprint is now offering the BlackBerry 8830 to mobile users who need that extra "oomph" in their phones.

The first question most consumers would ask is how much will it cost. Well Sprint's Worldwide BlackBerry plan is available for US$ 69.99 per month and gives customers unlimited BlackBerry email and web access in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico using CDMA technology. That's a pretty good deal considering what other companies charge for their plans.

Of course, if you already own a CDMA-based BlackBerry smartphone from Sprint such as the BlackBerry 7130e or the BlackBerry 8703, you won't have to pick up a new handset since you can use the one you already have. If you do decide to pick up the BlackBerry 8830, however, it will be available next month.

It will be priced for US$ 199.99 with a two year-service agreement but you will get a US$ 100 mail-in-rebate and US$ 100 instant rebate.

The BlackBerry 8830 has a plethora of features that will make mobile phone users very happy to own one. Some of which include a speakerphone, voice activated dialing, and Bluetooth support.

The unit also sports a full QWERTY keyboard and trackball navigation. Want to know more, check out the list of features below:

• Built-in GPS – customers can utilize applications such as Sprint Navigation, spoken and visual turn-by-turn driving directions, or BlackBerry Maps, a mapping application.
• OnDemand - a unique application available exclusively from Sprint that delivers customized, up-to-date information such as sports, weather, news, money and movie information, all with the push of a button.
• Phone as Modem – with the included USB cable, customers can utilize the BlackBerry 8830 as a wireless modem to extend the capabilities of the Sprint Nationwide Network to a laptop. An appropriate service plan is required.
• Media Player – play videos, audio podcasts or music files with the built-in media player; also includes a stereo headset jack.
• MicroSD slot – allows expandable memory to store music and video files.

Given all those, you'll probably be thinking it can't get any better. Well, they're also the first company to offer AOL messenger service, so again,  that extra "oomph" you're looking for is definitely in this phone. When it rolls out next month, check it out and see if it's something you'll need for your busy lifestyle.

  

There's a new company in Petaluma, California called Raydiance Inc. that's tinkering with the possibility of creating a new type of laser that doesn't generate any kind of heat. This new technology, which creates intense ultrashort burst of photons, originally began as a military research.

Scientifically speaking, the above mentioned ultrashort burst of photons only last for "femtoseconds" and one unit of that time duration equals a billionth of a millionth of a second. Raydiance Inc. believes that this new invention could create a revolution in the laser industry.

When used properly, this type of laser can be used for a lot of purposes ranging from removing skin tattoo without burning the skin, wrinkle removal, and killing cancer cells without affecting healthy ones. U.S. Food and Drug Administration senior optical scientist Ronald Waynant further explained the process,

You're putting an awful lot of power into a small place in a very short period of time. The electrons are just blown out of the area, vaporizing the material that was in that spot. What is important is that you don't transfer the heat. It's different than the old lasers with longer pulses, where you used to create a lot of thermal damage.

Raydiance Inc. CEO Barry Schuler admitted that the technology is not really new as it is being used in military laboratories for some time now. The difference with their system is that they "miniaturized" the gigantic setups found in the said labs. He added,

These ultrashort pulse lasers create unique interactions with matter that have only been done before in university environments. Now we're making this capability inexpensive. We hope to seed an explosion of innovation. We're moving into the era of light. We call it the light age.

Before starting up Raydiance, Schuler used to run America Online (AOL) after its merger with Time Warner. The laser company currently has around 30 employees and has already spent a total of US$ 25 million on the ultrashort pulse laser project.