A lot of joggers already use Nike and Apple's Nike + iPod fitness scheme: run miles as the device embedded in the Nike shoes takes down the pace, time, and distance that you have covered during your workout. Now how about if you can upload all that data into a treadmill which will compute how much speed and distance you need to cover? Read all about it in the full article.

The iPhone just recently launched in the UK, and as expected by UK mobile service provider O2, things went well according to plan. Customers flocked the Apple London flagship store and were all abuzz with excitement as they were all whipped up to get their own slice of Apple's delicious iPhone pie. Do read the full article to get the dibs on what went down.

There have been quite a few reports of bricked iPhones ever since the release of the software update from Apple. Contrary to what some may believe, it doesn't look like the company intentionally created software that would brick hacked iPhones.

One of the developers of the unlocking application, Erica Sadun, said that "it wasn't intentional at all. If they wanted to brick hacked iPhones, they could have done a much better job of it." She further supported her stand on this by pointing out that the update bricked both hacked and stock iPhones. The problem, she noted, was with the update itself.

The new software, which was a complete rewrite of the original code, was still unfinished according to Sadun. She added that there were many parts of the application which consisted of hacks geared towards just getting the application to work.

Despite the fact that the code looks rushed, Apple did make sure that the update was very secure with every function certified, encrypted, and requiring a checksum. Sadun commented on this saying that "Apple wants no one else on the platform. It's a pretty strong statement of that."

This release seems consistent with Apple's current stand on hacking the iPhone. Vice president of Apple's hardware and product marketing Greg Joswiak said that while they will not be designing software to intentionally break third party applications, they won't care if their regular software updates do break the unlicensed applications. Note however, that he did leave a disclaimer stating that the company is always re-evaluating its stand on topics like this.

People love the iPhone, or so according to recent surveys done to gauge overall consumer reaction to the groundbreaking gadget. And if we many add, the results of the survey are more than telling.

90% of 200 surveyed users - that's 180 people have voted either "extremely" or "very" satisfied with their newly-purchased iPhone.  And practically the same percentage also voted that they're "extremely" or "very" likely to recommend Apple's latest brainchild to their friends and families.

These figures are all from the online survey conducted and paid for by Interpret, a market researching firm based in Santa Monica, California. And of course, Apple's happy with these turn of events.

Apple VP Worldwide Marketing for the iPod and iPhone Greg Joswiak explained that positive word-of-mouth is critically important to any product's success. And he's right - not only does it build a circle of trust between Apple and its customers, it's free advertising.

There's also the added boon of the iPhone's success converting people into Apple consumers, what with 3 out of 10 buyers being first-time Apple product buyers. Definitely good news for Apple, as well as those of us still iffy on purchasing one.

Sure, the iPhone has its cons, what with the rather hefty US$ 599/499 price tag, but for quality that people love, the price may be just right.

"Let's face the music and dance."  - Irving Berlin, 1936

Fred Astaire sang those words seventy years ago, and it seems appropriate for Apple as it heads into the "winter of its discontent" with its European customer base. Between chat-room scuttlebutt questioning the device's reliability and leaking news of questionable labor practices in its Chinese factories, the shiny new toy that Britons fell in love with two years ago is starting to lose its lustre.

According to Britain's YouGov Brand Awareness Index, the Apple i-Pod has been showing a steady and "very significant" decline in popularity. Some 50 million units have been sold in the U.K. since 2001, and Apple insists there are no problems with the product. Despite the decline, the iPod remains Britain's most popular portable music player.

This recent apparent fall from grace may be linked to bad publicity when last year, after coming out with the iPod Nano, Apple admitted that some of the models had screens that were scratched too easily. Other people have complained that the iPod Shuffle's lacks a screen.

 FirstGov's Sunpid Chahal says, "Apple used to stand for corporate reputation and quality, and people were prepared to pay more because they got it back in quality."

Apple's own Greg Joswiak disagrees, however: "A lot of products don't enjoy such a low failure rate - mobile phones can be up to 30%. The vast majority of customers are extremely happy and have never experienced a failure." He also points out that many people aren't exactly gentle when it comes to delicate electronic devices, adding, "Most problems are caused by mishandling. They are complex electronic components and they can be broken if dropped or mishandled."