As an undocumented feature of the latest iPhone 2.2 firmware, Japanese SoftBank network iPhone users were given access to use a plethora of cool emoticons known as "emoji" icons. But you too can join in the fun with a jailbroken iPhone running 2.2 firmware. The hack is a straightforward modification on a certain plist file in the Apple iPhone’s file system, and the emoji icons can be enjoyed in a wide variety of use cases like the Notes program as seen in the screenshot above. Note that while you can add the SoftBank emoticons to your emails and text messages, your recipient must be running on 2.2 firmware to see them. Below, we outline the steps to hack your iPhone to enable the Emoji.

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If you accidentally upgraded your iPhone to the latest v2.2 firmware and discovered that you lost all your third party jailbroken apps, you have the option to either jailbreak the 2.2 firmware or simply downgrade your iPhone firmware back to v2.1. Should you desire to go down the downgrade route, this guide is for you.

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The latest iPhone 2.2 firmware was recently unleashed to the world by Apple and just a mere day later, the iPhone Dev Team provides the PwnageTool unlocking software. We’ve covered the PwnageTool upgrade steps before, but since QuickPwn 2.2 does the same job a lot easier, this guide will show you how to upgrade, jailbreak, and perhaps unlock your beloved Apple iPhone to run on the latest and greatest 2.2 firmware.

For 3G iPhone users, there’s just one note before you begin: do not upgrade to 2.2 firmware if you wish to have a chance to use Pwnage to unlock your iPhone in the future. The 2.2 firmware update will update your iPhone 3G’s baseband software, which may or may not be unlockable. The iPhone Dev Team has been working furiously on a reliable unlock solution for the 3G, but it is based on the old baseband revision that is prior to this 2.2 update. The update can also affect hardware unlocking solutions if you paid for a SIM card unlocker for your 3G. So if you’ve got a 3G, you’re strongly urged not to go this route. Instead, use PwnageTool to create your own custom firmware without the baseband upgrade. refer to this yellowsn0w soft unlock guide for 2.2 firmware and 02.28.00 baseband.

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In just a few days after Apple has released its iPhone 2.2 firmware update, the QuickPWN team has already jailbroken it.

QuickPWN 2.2, available for free for both Mac and Windows users, will allow iPod Touch and iPhone users to jailbreak their device to the latest firmware, version 2.2.

With each update, Apple fights against jailbreakers, as a way to protect their exclusive contract with AT&T. An unlocked phone can work with any GSM carrier.

Whenever Apple updates the firmware, previous jailbreaks are broken in terms of the App Store, because most applications require the latest firmware to even run.

This was the figure estimated by research firm iSuppli, which concluded that every T-Mobile G1 phone being sold should at least pay for itself in components and materials, selling for retail at $179 with a $144 bill-of-materials. Not counting the humans costs like software development, R&D or machine costs like manufacturing and packaging, each Google G1 phone generates a $35 profit. This is a modest profit compared to the iPhone, whose initial bill-of-materials estimate worked out to be $173, more than the G1 except that the iPhone, when it first came out, was selling for profit upwards of $500.

The estimate from iSuppli did not include physically dissecting the phone so a full parts teardown that was similarly done on the iPhone is not available, but they did note that the G1 has at least two processors designed by ARM, whose chips also appear in the Apple iPhone.

Have you been looking to download the famed K-Lite Codec Pack for Mac OS? Sorry to say, but no such thing exists. The K-Lite Codec Pack is a famous collection of video and audio codecs that, together, can play just about any sort of media file on your computer. The elephantine K-Lite Mega Codec Pack comes loaded with even more stuff like different media players, RealPlayer and QuickTime Alternatvie, and more. But what about on the Mac? You’ll actually be relieved to hear that bloated bundles like the K-Lite Codec Pack aren’t necessary for your Mac.

Instead of the K-Lite Codec Pack, Mac users can download Perian, the "swiss-army knife for QuickTime." Perian is a small 2.6 MB download, unlike the K-Lite Codec Pack which weighs in at 14.2 MB for just the basic version. Instead of requiring you to install extra media players like VLC or Media Player Classic, Perian simply enhances QuickTime to pack a bigger punch, allowing it to handle most popular video and audio encoding formats out there.

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Apple’s in the middle of its spotlight event of the latest specs and prices of their notebook line: the MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro. Each line has two trims, with some room for upgrades.

$1299 MacBook

• 13.3" LED-backlit display
• 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo / 3 MB L2 Cache
• 2 GB 1066 MHz DDR3 memory
• Nvidia GeForce 9400M
• 160 GB hard drive
• Slot-loading SuperDrive

$1599 MacBook

• 13.3" LED-backlit display
• 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo / 3 MB L2 Cache
• 2 GB 1066 MHz DDR3 memory
• Nvidia GeForce 9400M
• 250 GB hard drive
• Slot-loading SuperDrive
• Backlit keyboard

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Engadget managed to snag two photos of the newest MacBook Pro, rumored to have two NVIDIA GPUs, using the 9600M GT chipset, in a dual-SLI setup just like on desktops. The MacBook Pro will come with an aluminum finish and the trackpad is actually made of glass. If you look closely at the picture, there’s no button either. Apparently, the trackpad itself is the button. Nice work Steve Jobs, way to lose another unnecessary button (he hate buttons, FYI, notice how he never wears button-up shirts, just button-less turtlenecks). Hit up the link to get another side view shot and some more detailed info on the specs.

Of course right now Apple is in the middle of its "spotlight turns to notebooks" so expect to see some photos and confirmations within the next couple hours.

Image/Engadget

In an amazing video from the Netherlands, girlfriend-less Erik Kristiansen has demonstrated his progress on an application that works similarly to Apple’s Bootcamp, allowing the iPhone to dual boot either Apple’s iPhone OS or Windows Mobile. I’m not sure how many people would enjoy having Windows Mobile run on their iPhones as a major part of its success, in my opinion, is how un-Windows Mobile the operating system is. Because any other alternative is better. I mean, I can see why people would want to go the other way around by making the Windows Mobile interface look like the iPhone’s. At any rate it’s great to see the iPhone’s capabilities being stretched to run an entirely different OS. Expect this beta version to be ready by January 2009.