Users of unlocked iPhones that are running firmware 1.1.1 or 1.1.2 can upgrade to 1.1.3 over the air directly through the installer.app.

Maybe hacker ingenuity is why one-quarter of all iPhone users are unlocking their devices.

This latest hack is for previously jailbroken iPhones or iPod Touches.

Since iPhones and iPods that are already jailbroken have the installer.app on them, they can take advantage of this hack to update to a jailbroken version of 1.1.3.

A warning, though, as not all third-party apps are supported in 1.1.3 yet. Some may be rendered non-functional. You can read a complete how-to here.

The one negative about this update is that it requires Wi-Fi, and even then takes up to 45 minutes.

Apple and AT&T don’t offer over-the-air updates for the Apple iPhone.

You have to plug the iPhone into your PC, download the application from the Internet, install it via USB cable and then re-verify your device every time you upgrade the firmware.

One reason over-the-air updates are not offered from AT&T is likely because it doesn’t want users downloading 100-Megabyte-plus firmware software over its EDGE network.

I don’t blame them for that.

According to T-Mobile, the bandits made off with about $8.2 million worth of Sidekick messaging devices. T-Mobile is pursuing the thieves aggressively.

T-Mobile issued an internal memo to let employees in its sales channels know about the theft. This is what it says:

Wanted to let you all know that one of our warehouses was broken into over the weekend and some 36,000 phones were stolen (worth about 8.2 Million). The most significant phones stolen were the Sidekick phones. Please make sure you inform the dealers who like to purchase gray market handsets that we are aggressively working with law enforcement to prosecute anyone who has these handsets. We do know the IMEI’s of the stolen phones and once they end up on our network we will go to the dealer code that activated the phone. So if your dealers get a call about Sidekicks and the deal is too good to be true you will know why.

The International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number is essentially a code that is unique to each and every GSM-based handset.

As with other serial numbers, it is printed inside the phone, usually under the battery. It is used by the GSM network to identify valid devices.

Since T-Mobile has the IMEI’s of the stolen devices in hand, it can use the numbers to find out if the stolen phones are activated on its network.

Once they are, it can use the IMEI to ban the phones from accessing the network, making them paperweights.

Even if someone purchases the stolen handsets from an authorized dealer, they can be out of luck if the dealer sells gray market or stolen phones.

The Sidekick devices are popular phones, so it’s no surprise that they were targeted in the raid. Hopefully T-Mobile will be able to recover its stolen property and prosecute the criminals.

According to the Associated Press, IBM will be releasing a version of Lotus Notes email for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Hooah! Can Apple take down RIM?

If you’re a mobile professional who’s held off on purchasing an iPhone because it won’t work with your corporate email system, there may be one less reason for you to keep holding out.

The AP is reporting that IBM is set to make Lotus Notes available to the iPhone at its Lotusphere conference in Orlando next week. Of course, some terms and conditions apply.

First, your enterprise has to have a Lotus Domino server to support the application.

Existing users of Lotus Notes Web-access system will be able to use the iPhone version for free with their current license. New users will have to pay $39 per year for the Lotus license. Not a bad deal at all.

IBM is also releasing its Symphony productivity suite for Apple computers. Symphony, similar to Google Apps, includes a word processor, presentation application and spreadsheet program.

If you think these new Apple-compatible applications are indicative of a new love-fest between Big Blue and the big Mac, you might want to remember that Apple used IBM’s PowerPC chips in its computers for a long time.

It appears that Apple’s move to Intel processors didn’t sour the relationship between the two. IBM spokesperson Mike Azzi said the two companies “have a lot in common. We’re going to cross-pollinate.”

I can only imagine that this is going to make a lot of enterprise users very happy, and create more headaches for IT admins as employees drag the iPhone in and demand it be supported for email.

However, this new set of software will likely not put a dent in RIM’s enterprise dominance any time in the near future.

Macworld Keynote facts:

• Number of new hardware products announced: Two. The Time Capsule network backup device and the ultra-thin MacBook Air.
• Number of product upgrades announced: Four. Apple TV, iPod Touch, iPhone, iTunes.
• Number of failed product demos: One. Apple TV couldn’t load photos from Flickr’s servers.
• Number of price drops: One. The AppleTV dropped from $300 to $230.

MacBook Air Notebook:

• Weight of the MacBook Air, in pounds: Three
• Size of the MacBook Air’s screen, in inches: 13.3
• Thickest measurement of the MacBook Air’s slim case, in inches: 0.76
• Number of inches thinner than the thinnest measurement of Sony’s TZ ultra-portable: 0.04
• Base cost with 80GB hard drive and 1.6GHz processor: $1800
• Cost with a 64GB SSD hard drive and a 1.8GHz processor: $3100
• Hours of battery life Apple says the MacBook Air gets per charge: Five
• Number of optical drives in the new notebook: Zero. Instead, MacBook Air users will “borrow” the optical drives of other computers on their wireless network using an application called Remote Disc.
• Cost of an optional external DVD drive: $100

iPhone/iPod Touch:

• Number of iPhones sold since the device became available in June, 2007: 4 million
• Average number of iPhones sold per day: 20,000
• Percentage of the U.S. smartphone market captured by Apple during Q3 2007, its first full quarter shipping the iPhone: 20%
• Number of custom iPhone home screens users can now create, save and switch between: Nine
• New applications added to the iPod Touch: Five — Mail, Maps, Stocks, Notes and Weather.
• How much iPod Touch users will have to pay for the latest enhancements: $20
• How much iPhone users will have to pay for the same enhancements: $0

iTunes:

• Number of songs sold in the iTunes Store to date: 4 billion
• Number of songs sold on Christmas Day 2007: 20 million, a one-day record for Apple
• Number of TV shows sold through the iTunes Store: 125 million
• Number of movies sold: 7 million, a disappointment according to Jobs.
• Number of major Hollywood studios participating in Apple’s new iTunes movie rental program: 11 — Touchstone Pictures, Miramax, MGM, Lions Gate Films, New Line Cinema, 20th Centeruy Fox, Warner Bros., Walt Disney, Paramount, Universal and Sony Pictures
• Cost of iTunes rentals: $4 each for new releases, $3 for older titles
• Cost of iTunes rentals for Hi-Def movies: One dollar more — $5 each for new releases, $4 for older titles
• How long you’ll have to wait after a movie is released on DVD before being able to rent it at iTunes: 30 days
• How long a user with a broadband connection will have to wait before beginning to watch a rented movie, on average: 30 seconds
• How long you can wait before starting to watch a movie rental: 30 days
• How long you have to finish watching a rented movie after you start it: 24 hours
• Number of movies available for rental on iTunes by the end of February 2008: 1,000

AppleTV:

• Number of YouTube videos AppleTV users can watch on their televisions: over 50 million
• New price for the upgraded Apple TV: $230
• Amount of the price drop: $70

Leopard:

• Copies of Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 sold since its debut in October, 2007: 5 million
• Percentage of Mac users who have upgraded to Leopard so far: 20%

So there you go, the quick and dirty, way to sum up Macworld. Thanks for stopping by, please drive through…

Doug Rodriquez was able to do so merely by setting up a custom ringtone using a well-documented iTunes workaround.

Rodriquez started getting SIM card error messages sometime thereafter and went looking for some customer support.

Apple basically told him to piss up a rope because they had “determined that (the iPhone) has been subjected to accidental damage or misuse, which is not covered by the warranty or an Apple service contract.”

According to Doug Rodriguez:

I’ve never dropped my iPhone, I’ve never exposed it to water. I’ve never put third-party apps on it or hacked it. It just stopped working and Apple apparently does not believe me…The only thing I’ve ever done is back in September putting one custom ringtone on my iPhone via the “manual transfer” method. Nothing Else.

No word yet on what kind of warranty love using the Apple-sanctioned GarageBand method for installing custom ringtones will get you.

Last month BGR leaked details about the 9000-series, but now it seems they’ve got more solid information:

The BlackBerry 9000 device (not series) has been confirmed with screen size of 480 x 320, although the physical dimensions are unknown at this time. Think of this device as the elder sibling to the BlackBerry 8320. Like it’s small screen counterpart, it will operate with a quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE radio (850MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz, and 1900MHz) and will feature 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi capabilities. This will be a full QWERTY device, as well.

The BlackBerry 9000 will feature the same general OS platform, although it will launch with version 4.3.2. Coincidentally, OS 4.3.2 will potentially be in the future roadmaps for all 8000 series devices, sans the 8700 family (although that may change).

It looks like the 9000 will, however, feature a QWERTY keyboard, even though it will also be touch-screen device. Unfortunately, the 9000 will not include HSDPA, which is a big disappointment:

To recap, Research In Motion will soon launch the BlackBerry 9000 handheld, which will feature a larger screen, a new OS update, most likely a new full QWERTY keyboard layout (which may or may not be a touch screen keyboard), but without HSDPA or UMTS capabilities.

The BlackBerry 9000 doesn’t look as impressive now as it did a few weeks ago, but this looks like a more realistic device.

I have to ask, just how revolutionary will this phone be without HSDPA? How long must we wait for a truly revolutionary touch-screen 3G smartphone? What do you think?

Watch for each of them to be a force for change in their own corner of the tech world.

Meet 8 people who will help shape the business technology world in the coming year:

Steve Jobs and Eric Schmidt
With very different approaches, this duo’s dragging the stagnant phone business into the Internet age. Jobs’ Apple iPhone embraces a closed network, and Schmidt’s Google Android platform envisions a wide-open one. Both are forcing change for the better.

Mark Zuckerberg
It’s not Facebook that matters, it’s Facebook thinking. IT will feel growing pressure to provide social networking functions–to customers, along the supply chain, and inside their workplaces.

Mark Hurd
He’s got Hewlett-Packard back atop the PC market. How big a splash can he make in business software? The year ahead will tell.

Ray Ozzie
For a Microsoft exec, Ozzie sure is quiet. That’s fine, but it’s time for his vision of software-plus-services to make some noise. That means delivering some surprising products businesses can put to use.

Sam Palmisano
IBM can’t afford to stand pat in software. After making the company’s biggest acquisition ever this year, count on IBM’s CEO to keep dealing in 2008.

Diane Greene
Microsoft storms the virtualization market next year, along with a growing horde of Xen-based rivals like Sun and Oracle. The VMware CEO is a leader, and this is her toughest test yet.

Charles Phillips
2008 needs to be about new products, as Oracle promises to deliver the first of its Fusion applications, which draw together software from past acquisitions. But don’t expect Oracle’s president, a former Wall Street analyst, to lay off the deal-making.

According to a new survey, roughly one in seven say they’ve been dumped by a boyfriend or girlfriend via text message or e-mail. I guess Kevin Federline isn’t alone.

Here is a look at the survey:

“Most of us send emails and texts everyday, so it comes as no surprise they are now being used to ditch someone — however distasteful this is,” said Rob Barnes from moneysupermarket.com, which carried out the survey.

“The results show one per cent of the population would use a social networking site to dump a partner. It would be interesting to see how this changes as sites such as Facebook and MySpace become more apparent in our everyday lives.”

The survey included 2,194 people in the United Kingdom between the ages of 18-24.

A more surprising finding, though, was that almost 25% of those surveyed have used the traditional pen and paper “Dear John” or “Dear Jane” letter to call it quits.

This is just another sign of how pervasive text messaging is in the lives of younger people.

What do you think? Have you used a text message or e-mail to break up with someone? Or, worse, have you been dumped this way?

Google has made it possible to sync your Gmail, applications, your own domains, and now your Google calendar with your BlackBerry’s on-board calendar application. No pricey Exchange servers and licenses required.

Recently I’ve started using Google’s calendar application to schedule meetings.

Even though Google made the calendar available to smartphones via mobile browsers, it was a little awkward to use and you couldn’t sync it with your mobile device.

Well, now you can. Google has added calender syncing to its list of mobile capabilities.

You can now sync appointments, meetings, and events from your Google calendar to the calendar application on your BlackBerry smartphone.

Excuse me for a second while I say, “Woo-hoo!”

All interested users need do is install a calendar update patch from BlackBerry and go to Google’s mobile services page.

Google will walk you through the steps and before long, Bingo! You’re all set to sync your calendar wirelessly to your BlackBerry.

Does Microsoft already offer this functionality to BlackBerrys? Yes, it sure does but at a price.

Not only do you have to buy the servers (which start at $700 and jump to $4,000 very quickly), but you have to license the software to each user, starting at $67 a pop.

Google offers all this for free, gratis, nada, zip, zilch, nothing.

Google has really stepped up the pace of innovations of late. Microsoft, are you paying attention?

The dongle will packetize the video signal and transmit it through the ether, whereupon it will be reassembled into a picture which “looks to a user exactly like a wired display”.

The adapter supports 32-bit color and “real-time video playback” at resolutions up to 1680 x1050.

At first, the inevitable skepticism set in. Why bother with a cable free display when you have to plug it into a power source anyway? The press release shut me up.

Planned applications include “USB-connected monitors, video-capable USB laptop docking stations, Skype video phones, picture frames”.

The adapter will be on show at next year’s CES, and should be available soon, at $150-$250 for the transmitter/receiver set.