iPhone – free on O2 if you go for a pricey contract; pay as you go available too

O2′s put up its iPhone 3G prices: free on £45 per month contract or £99 on the cheaper tariffs, including a new £30/month plan. There’s a pay as you go version coming too – teenagers will love that – and existing iPhone customers can get a free upgrade if they’re willing to take the £45 contract.

Those prices are for the 8GB version.The 16GB is £159 on the £30 and £35 per month plans, £59 on £45 and free on the £75 per month plan. Pay as you go prices aren’t up yet.

If you’re upgrading, you’ll be able to pass your existing iPhone on:

We want to make sure you find a good home for your existing iPhone once you upgrade. If you’ve a friend or family member already on an eligible O2 tariff, they’ll be able to transfer to one of our new tariffs for iPhone. If they’re not already with O2 or on an eligible O2 tariff, they could get one of our new iPhone Pay & Go SIM cards.

Fake Steve Jobs flips out

On people queuing to be first in line for WWDC:

Point is, you’re supposed to be Apple faithful. Our motto is “Think Different.” Not “Stand in line like a bunch of fucking sheep.”

“The scrawny, strange-smelling world of teenage boys”

Many, many years ago, the BBC showed the video diary of teenage metaller Chris Needham. And, thanks to the magic of MetaFilter, I’ve just discovered this superb Taylor Parkes article about it – with embedded video so you can see what he’s on about.

“Now feel sudden death… from my guitar,” growls Chris on ‘Hate Song’, raising his Woolworth’s Strat copy and launching into a riff so tinny it wouldn’t fell a gerbil.

iPhone 2.0. 3G, GPS and a free horse

Well, probably not the horse. But even if nothing about the iPhone changes other than the addition of 3G, I’ll be rushing out to buy one immediately – although by “rushing” I mean “waiting until it comes to the UK and trying to magically summon money out of thin air so I can afford to buy one.” For all its flaws, it really is a superb, game-changing bit of kit and the one gadget I’d really hate to be without.

A lot of the tech blogs are full of crap about version 2 – hint: if Engadget has already exposed the “leaked photos” as fakes before you post them, then you’re really not trying hard enough – but there are enough apparently credible leaks to suggest that in addition to the stuff already expected (3G! 3G! 3G!) you’ll get more storage, a plastic case to improve reception, aGPS (which firms such as Nokia use; it’s better than the current Google Maps “where the hell am I?” offering in the current iPhone that made a certain baldy hack walk 300 miles around London when it turns out his hotel was 3 feet away from his starting point, but if you don’t have a phone signal you don’t have GPS) and a proper headphone socket. Videoconferencing? I don’t see it, because even when sprinkled with a bit of Apple magic it’s the answer to a question nobody’s asking. Video recording and MMS? Nobody’s sure. But I hope this rumour, courtesy of MacWorld, is true:

[on O2] Existing iPhone customers will be offered the chance to upgrade their mobile to the new model without charge – though they will be obliged to sign-up to another 18-month contract.

If not, I’ll be selling Baby Bigmouth on eBay.

Loreal: calling a spade a super turbo ground smasher

From time to time I’ve blogged about the daft names cosmetic companies give products aimed at men, but an ad in today’s Observer has my favourite one so far: I give you Loreal Men Expert Hydra Energetic Turbo Booster Kick Start Wake-Up Intense Recovery Moisturiser. “Because his mornings are a race against time, this Father’s Day give him a turbo boost.” Brilliant.

Blame Canada

Oh, for crying out loud.

OTTAWA – The federal government is secretly negotiating an agreement to revamp international copyright laws which could make the information on Canadian iPods, laptop computers or other personal electronic devices illegal and greatly increase the difficulty of travelling with such devices.

…Called the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), the new plan would see Canada join other countries, including the United States and members of the European Union, to form an international coalition against copyright infringement.

…The deal would create a international regulator that could turn border guards and other public security personnel into copyright police. The security officials would be charged with checking laptops, iPods and even cellular phones for content that “infringes” on copyright laws, such as ripped CDs and movies.

The guards would also be responsible for determining what is infringing content and what is not.

The agreement proposes any content that may have been copied from a DVD or digital video recorder would be open for scrutiny by officials – even if the content was copied legally.

As Jerry Sadowitz memorably put it: “moose-fuckers!”

The seven kinds of blog post

Wired’s Lore Sjöberg hits the nail on the head in typically amusing fashion…

In the spirit of oversimplifying things so that you can smugly shove human endeavors into pre-labeled slots, I’d like to present my own, contemporary take on this premise: the Seven Basic Blog Posts.

Apple and music: good point, well made

Mark Mulligan of Jupiter Research has written a short post about iTunes movies and what it means for music, and he makes an excellent point about music industry attempts to marginalise Apple:

The labels already effectively killed off true-tone ring tones as a vibrant music format by demanding license fees that compelled mobile content providers to build their own IP (cf Crazy Frog) or simply promote more profitable mobile content such as games. Result? Declining ring tone sales.

Though digital music downloads are less exposed, it’s a dangerous game antagonizing the company which has done far more than any other to drive the digital music market and currently accounts for the vast majority of it. The labels want to weaken Apple’s position, but Apple now has bigger fish to fry.

iTunes movie store now in the UK too

Apple has brought its iTunes movie store to Britain, making the Apple TV about a million times more useful and hammering another nail into DVD’s coffin.

As ever, the catalogue’s a little sparse at launch – so you get I Am Legend but not No Country For Old Men – and like all legal digital downloads, the price often seems rather high compared to physical releases. You’re looking at £10.99 for new releases and £6.99 for old ones, and rentals are £3.49/£2.49.

Nyah nyah nyah, I’m in heaven and you’re not

Do you think The Rapture is upon us, and it’s just a matter of time before you’re spirited off to Heaven? Want to ensure your smug post-Rapture emails annoy the people Left Behind? Then you need You’ve Been Left Behind, which enables you to store up to 250MB of documents for delivery when the Second Coming occurs.

Which means that there’s no internet in Heaven.

NO INTERNET IN HEAVEN!

/ immediately starts blaspheming, coveting neighbours’ oxen, etc

[link via MetaFilter]