The guys over at AppleInsider have discovered that the boot script in the beta 3.0 version of the iPhone firmware alludes to the Broadcom BCM4329 wireless chip.

This new Broadcom chip, among other things, supports 8011.N wireless (including 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz) and the real shocker, FM receiving and transmitting, which 9to5Mac found out from the Broadcom spec sheet. 9to5Mac says, “[this chip] theoretically could be used to broadcast sound into car stereos..without external adapters.”

MobileDevDesign points out:

The BCM4329’s FM transmit capabilities enable consumers to stream music directly from their mobile devices to car stereos or home theater systems without special adapters or bulky cables. With the FM receiver, users can get real-time traffic information as well as music, news, and sports broadcasts on their mobile devices.

While FM radio frequency isn’t the newest technology, it does open up some interesting doors. For instance, the Nike+ in-shoe pedometer might finally work for the iPhone and I can finally listen to radio while I run … wait… I hate the radio… but I’ll tell you what I do like, not having to buy a silly, expensive FM transmitter to forget every time I go in my friends car. Now that’s progress! [via 9to5Mac]

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I had two people ask me the past week, “How do you pay for hosting for your website? It’s so expensive…” Seriously? Have these guys even shopped around? I looked around and found 10 great hosts for about $5 per month, pretty reasonable.

Pull your blog off WordPress.org or Blogger and get your own server (and I don’t mean the sketchy one to the left)–it’s not as expensive as you think! Then you can tell people to go to http://www.kittenreviews.com, instead of http://www.wordpress.org/sites/longurl/snoore/kittenreviews! What you do with your own web space is your own business!

IXWebhosting and FatCow have the best deals, at about $3.95 and $5.50 respectively, for pretty much unlimited everything, including MySQL which is used by WordPress and most other blogging software.

Given the choice, I think IXWebHosting is the solid choice due to their stellar tech support record, price, and near 0% down time, but I think FatCow is just about equal and also great.

Go to www.deathcarrot.com/webhosting, or click on the tab above to see my top 10.

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Skype’s official iPhone client is in the App Store tomorrow, but with a feature list like this… should I really be that excited? At least BlackBerry users will have to wait until May to be disappointed.

The Skype app will include free Skype-to-Skype calls, SkypeOut support, a new interface, and instant messaging. The only feature that is kinda exciting is the support for 2G iPod Touches with external mics.

The real let down isn’t necessarily the Skype app, I suppose, but the App Store ban on voice over IP over 3G. Skype has to be used over a wireless network… =( Also, Gizmodo points out that, “You can’t even top up your SkypeOut account or purchase other services like voicemail, which, by the way, can’t be accessed from the app.”

I don’t wish Skype any ill-will, I’d just much rather them wait till Apple lifts the “Voice-out-IP-over-3G” ban and come out with an all singning, all dancing app that really shows off what a great service Skype is, rather than a half-baked app that is redundant with other third party apps. For instance, Fring has been doing all the things the NEW Skype app does and multiprotocol (including AIM) IMing for over a year. It’s about time two things happen:

1) Apple needs to hurry out their 3.0 firmware (which includes some apps being able to run in the background, maybe lifting the VOIP/SIP over 3G ban)

2) Skype needs to take a hint from Gizmo Project. I have their app on my Nokia N73. Basically, when you make a call, they call you and connect your call. VOILA! Problem solved. VOIP anywhere.

Skype told CNET that their app will have better voice quality (and probably lower latency), but aside from that was unable to offer many significant advantages over other apps. In my opinion, Skype should have just bought FRING and rebranded it. [via Gizmodo via CNET and NYT —Images from CNET]

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The awesome guys over at ThinkGeek.com sent me some gadgets to support my Stolen iPhone Cause and I’m giving them all away to you guys for being so awesome! =D.

Up for grabs this week is a super cool Griffin AirCurve iPhone Acoustic Amplifier: The AirCurve looks like a simple, elegantly minimal stand for your iPhone. But inside is a coiled waveguide “horn” that collects the sound from the built-in speaker of your iPhone, amplifies it (by about 10 decibels), and projects it into the room. While the AirCurve won’t power your iPhone, but the built-in pass-through slot can feed a dock cable through the bottom and charge from your computer.      * Acoustically amplifies your iPhone      * Custom-engineered waveguide requires no power      * Allows syncing/charging using Griffin Dock Cable or         the charge/sync cable that came with your iPhone      * Works with original iPhone or iPhone 3G      * No batteries required $17.99 over at ThinkGeek.com

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The awesome guys over at ThinkGeek.com sent me some goodies to support my Stolen iPhone Cause and I’m gonna give them away to all you guys for being so awesome and because I love having strange contests.

Up for grabs first is a super cool Pogo iPhone Stylus: Since the iPhone’s (and iPod touch) glassy, touch sensitive screen is only sensitive to skin… a normal stylus don’t work. This is because it uses a technology called capacitive touch which measures the flow of electrons through your skin. The Pogo iPhone Stylus has magically solved this problem by tricking the iPhone into thinking it’s really a finger. How do they do it? Frankly I’m not sure      * Specially designed stylus works with iPhone and iPod Touch      * Enables precision selection of on-screen items (think games)      * Included clip keeps the Pogo Stylus handy      * Soft tip material keeps your screen clean while you tap $14.95 over at ThinkGeek.com

The Contest: tsteele999 won this time around, check back later this week for item #2!

1. Go to ThinkGeek.com

2. Find something you think is super cool and copy the link.

3. Make a comment on this post with the link, the name of the item, and why you think you item is super cool (I like the Dismember-Me Plush Zombie, because as all of you know, I have a zombie fetish).

4. Sit back and wait to see if you win, I’ll pick the name sometime Sunday evening. Good Luck!

*** For an extra entry (limit 1 per person) Tweet, “Deathcarrot.com is giving away some cool gadgets for free from ThinkGeek.com! http://tw1.us/b4 #DCcontest RT” ***

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Microsoft has released pictures of the Exclusive Red Xbox 360 Resident Evil Limited Edition Console, which was confirmed earlier tonight and mentioned officially by Microsoft earlier this month.

The Xbox 360 Elite console is bundled with a red wireless controller, black Xbox 360 headset, 120GB hard drive, via-LIVE-downloadable-Resident-Evil-theme, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix and a copy of Resident Evil 5. All this is priced at US$399. Check back, I’ll update you when you can pre-order. [via Kotaku]

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This concept video showing possible ways Apple could improve iTunes when it comes to managing iPhone apps has been doing the rounds on the web for the past couple of days. Although, to our knowledge, the poster is in no way affiliated with Apple, the video provides some excellent, Apple-esque solutions to the currently poor app screen in iTunes.

1. Category sorting
Arrange applications like you do music and movies in iTunes by order of size and category, maybe even Cover Flow.

2. An end to upgrade mess
When you update an application or even sync new ones, your original Home Screen layout isn’t preserved. The result is an ugly mess and time wasted dragging apps to their proper place.

3. Home Screen folders
Drag and drop applications into folders you can name. One folder for games, one for social networking apps and so on.

4. Multiple direction Home Screens
At the moment you can swipe left and right but why not up and down too? That would provide the option to reach one of four screens in one swipe. [via iphonekungfu.com]

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As of Feb 17th, 2009, only 9 days after posting, the www.deathcarrot.com and Twitter community donated enough money for me to get a new iPhone — this really is the iPhone that Twitter bought! Thank you so much for your kind words and extremely generous donations, I could have never done it without every single one of you.

Etchstar.com has agreed to etch the names of all the donors into the iPhone for me and I’ll am sending it off sometime this week!

Unboxing pictures coming soon!

The Donors:

Brian McCormack – BigFatDummy.com $100	Jason Winder – Webnet-it.co.jp $75
Daniel Rivera – $68	Scott Vann – $25
Selvin Ortiz – Kodespark.com $20	Jesse Bazelais – $20
Mitchell Leske – $20	Danilo Vujevic – Ukvgb.net $15
Amanda Kruel – Audrizzle.com $13	Jennifer Kirkland – $10
Martin Grider – Chesstris.com $10	Darrell Madore – $10
Bunjava.com – $10	Jonathan Davis – Snowulf.com $5
Meditationsolution.com – $5	Wilson – WilsonShow.com $5
SneakerWorldwide.com – $5	Nichole Wheat – $3
Jennifer Kerr – Jennypincher.blogspot.com $2	Steven Graziano – Arsdraconis.us $2
Shesgotcurves.com – $2	Brien Wiggins – Aggielandgh.com $2

Last but not least, the guys over at Cheese Blocks Effects sent me a guitar effects pedal, and I gotta be honest, it is the best sounding Tubescreamer I have ever heard. Check them out at www.cheeseblockseffects.com, they do tons of custom work and mods.

On Feb. 4th, some jerks broke into my jeep right outside my house and stole my iPhone, made a few calls, and then, I assume, removed the SIM card — It’s probably on Craigslist, Ebay, or in a pawn shop as you read this! Now, I haven’t had a normal job since October and Deathcarrot.com has pretty much been my only job since then. If you can spare any change or even a few dollars so that I can replace my stolen iPhone, it would be greatly appreciated.

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With more than 4,700 games in the App Store for Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch, there are a lot of games to sort though — which are the ones you should buy and the ones you should steer clear of?

Here are Wired.com readers’ top-rated iPhone game picks:

10. JellyCar (Free) You guide your car through various courses trying to complete in the best time. The game uses ‘Jelly Physics,’ where your car bends, stretches and even breaks. It seems silly at first but after a few minutes, you’re hooked!	9. WordWarp ($1) Take six given letters and make as many words as possible in the time limit.
8. Cube Runner (Free) Free and highly addictive. It’s like old school Star Fox.	7. Tap Defense (Free) Set up turrets, then let the demons attack. It’s great for playing in short bursts.
6. Topple (Free) Fun, casual stacking game from the folks that made Rolando. Bought Rolando but seem to end up playing this free game more. It’s fast and fun and makes great use of the iPhone interface.

Top 5 after the jump:
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One of Gmail’s most popular add-on features, the Tasks list, has arrived on your web-enabled mobile device.

If you have an iPhone, an Android phone or any other mobile with a real web browser, just surf to http://gmail.com/tasks and you’ll see the new mobile interface.

You can check off completed tasks, add new tasks or delete old ones. You can assign notes to tasks. You can also manage multiple task lists, so you can keep work and personal tasks separate. Any changes you make in the mobile interface are synced to your Tasks list in Gmail.

Having never really been a calendar or schedule writer and it being so accessible now, I’ll just have to try even harder to not write anything down! Do you think that this integration will help you be more punctual and to get things done — or do you think that it will further chain you to you cell phone? As for me, long live my long love affair with being late and getting next to nothing done! [via Wired.com]

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