There’s an Apple “special event” coming in less than a week’s time, and Bitterwallet will be there live! At our desks! In the UK! Watching everyone else report it! There’s been no shortage of rumours of the last few weeks, but what do we think will be revealed by Steve Jobs on stage?

We haven’t bothered talked to a single expert or any of the UK’s leading tech journalists, but we’ve taken a stab at what you may or may not see 1st September:

1) The invite is clearly all about music, so will Apple’s iTunes Cloud service finally be revealed? This is expected to allow users to upload their music collection to a dedicated space on Apple’s servers, so you can access it from wherever you are in the world, on any computer or device.

2) Updates to the iPod devices are almost a certainty – this is the traditional time for Jobs to announce tweaks and changes. It’s possible there’ll be a new iPod Touch with front and rear cameras, capable of running Facetime across WiFi, as well as some mandatory but undoubtedly pointless fiddling with smaller iPod devices.

3) There’s been a lot of noise around Apple TV, or iTV, and a service that’ll actually be of some consequence to the mainstream consumer. Rumours include a smaller box that’ll allow iPhone apps to be ran on your TV, presumably controlled in a similar way to how this Star Wars app allows your iPhone to control actions occurring on a computer screen.

4) The iPad could get the nod on the iOS 4 firmware update, and the iPhone may well get a shiny iOS 4.1.

5) A real wildcard – the arrival of Game Center. This was announced back in April as part of the iOS 4 event and was due for a Autumn release, which would fit with next week’s event. It’s a social gaming network that’ll connect players around the world and allow them to interact through gaming.

Stick a fork in us, we’re done – but what do you think we’ll see next week? Answers and the usual Apple-related bile in the comments, please.

If you’re too posh for Clubcard points because your middle-class pretensions demand you shop with a Nectar card, then good news. There’s a new iPhone app that offers users exclusive deals across all retailers that offer Nectar points. It’s very basic, and we’re not too sure why you have to tell the app you want an offer before purchasing it – presumably that’s for data-capture and targetting rather than providing more meaningful functionality to the user. There’s also a Sainsbury app offering similar features.

According to the promotional video, all you have to do now is bother with a full shop and a car hire every day, and you’ll be enjoying that economy flight to Luton Airport in no time. And we’re always suspicious of a woman who buys a man’s Gilette razor – it usually means the circus is in town.

ESPN is going to give football fans a mobile phone service that is actually really good. It’s one that will bring us video footage of every Premier League goal, “usually within minutes” of the ball bulging the onion bag.

ESPN Goals will offer the bog-standard news and live scores, which you can get for free. If you want the videos, then you’ll have to cough up £3.99 a month or £29.99 for the season.

The best news is that it’s going to be available on both iPhone and Android and you buy it through ESPN’s mobile site. Sky are probably wishing they’d thought of this no doubt.

The Guardian report that ESPN has the rights to 23 Premier League matches this season, but UK mobile highlights rights for all the league’s games for the next three years.

Goal highlights will be available before we Match of the Day Football First transmits.

“Mobile media has seen dramatic growth in recent years and has proven to be a significant and important part of the way people connect to the sport they love,” said Tom Gleeson, the vice-president of digital media for ESPN International. “ESPN Goals will serve as a fantastic complement to our television business in the UK.”

This certainly looks like an app that is worth a punt.

Now that the American courts have announced that it’s okay to jailbreak an Apple device without Steve Jobs sending round his hired goons to issue you with a ‘correctional update’, the jailbreakers seem to be becoming more brazen as they develop and advertise their illicit wares.

Here’s a useful way of getting your iThing to run Flash like it probably should have done in the first place. It’s not simple and does involve you jailbreaking your device before you do it, which could possibly end in tears and will certainly knack your warranty.

Is it worth the hassle and/or risk? It’s up to you. What’s that coming over the hill? Is it Jobsie’s hired goons…?

[via Consumerist]

Finding the perfect flatmate is always tricky – there are bound to be habits you both have that wind the other up. Owning an iPhone is apparently one of them, according to this post on Craigslist. Our friend will only take a room with you if you don’t have an iPhone or iPad, and he’ll be checking you’re not trying to scam him, too. He’s also insistent his future landlord is proficient at Starcraft 2. How long before he turns on you for watching the wrong television show, or expressing an interest in girls? A box in the gutter would be too good for this one:

[New York Observer]

This isn’t the definitive article as far as we’re concerned, but it’s certainly a step towards a future where social networks like Facebook are central to every aspect of our lives; in this case, talking on the dog and bone. This new app from Vonage allows owners of iPhones, iPod Touches, iPads and Android-based handsets to call their Facebook contacts – without knowing their phone number. The only condition is that both parties must have downloaded the Vonage app:

So assuming you’re on WiFi or have an unlimited data tariff (not as likely as it use to be), you can make free calls – that’s nothing new, of course.

Turning your Facebook account into your phonebook throws up two issues; one concerns traction – take the percentage of Facebook users who have a handset-compatible device, are aware of the app and actually download it – and there probably aren’t many Facebook friends you can call.

The second is that if your connections on Facebook were really your friends or even individuals you had the slightest interest in talking to, you’d already have their phone number.

Both are issues are likely to be resolved over time; if not through this app, then there’s no doubt this functionality will become native to the official Facebook app, and may become a native feature of handsets – Facebook has the sort of reach amongst consumers that makes it viable. And the continuing erosion of personal boundries will invariably mean that collectively we won’t worry if distant strangers have more immediate access to us; for some, collecting friends on Facebook is a game, and throwing away access to the minutaie of our lives will continue to occur without giving the matter a second thought.

Thanks to avid Bitterwallet reader Ben for the tip-off

It’s only been a few days since the US Library of Congress determined that jailbreaking the iPhone could be regarded as ‘fair use’ and now there’s a browser-based service that allows iPhone owners to do just that.

JailbreakMe 2.0 has been upgraded to cover the iPhone 4 and allows phones to be jailbroken just by visiting its site – previously, iPhone users who wanted to fanny about with their handsets had to download and run a programme.

This theoretically makes it the simplest way to get into Apple’s ‘walled garden’ and enhance your iPhone, but users of JailbreakMe are reporting problems with MMS and Facetime on jailbroken iPhone 4 handsets. Fixes for the glitches are almost certainly being worked on right now, so it might be worth waiting for.

Also, the ruling from last week covers the US of America, so jailbreaking your phone in the UK is still technically in breach of Apple’s terms and conditions and could void your warranty. Be careful out there kids.

[Thanks to avid HotUKDeals member robc11]

This is interesting if you like iPhones. And we do, so we think it’s very interesting. It’s a side-by-side comparison of all four iPhone models to date, showing how performance has improved over the past three years.

It’s not a thoroughly scientific trial; for example, the handsets weren’t necessarily running the most optimum OS available. According to the producers, the original iPhone was running 3.1.3, the 3G 3.1.2, the 3GS 4.01 and the iPhone4 was running 4.0.

What’s very striking, apart from refinements like screen quality, is how the iPhone 4 isn’t all that much of an improvement on the 3GS in terms of operating speed:

[iClarified] thanks to avid Bitterwallet reader Paul

The people who live in the United States of America can now legally jailbreak and unlock their smartphones. Okay? Not really much fuss for most but alas, this includes Apple’s iPhone which means Steve Jobs is probably hopping mad this morning.

Basically, the US Copyright Office’s Librarian of Congress published exceptions to the Digital Milleneium Copyright Act (DMCA) which not only allows people to unlock their smartphones, but new rules allow people to post snippets of movies online for ‘criticism or comment’.

The Reg report: “By granting all of EFF’s (Electronic Frontier Foundation) applications, the Copyright Office and Librarian of Congress have taken three important steps today to mitigate some of the harms caused by the DMCA,” said EFF Civil Liberties Director Jennifer Granick in a statement. “We are thrilled to have helped free jailbreakers, unlockers and vidders from this law’s overbroad reach.”

MPAA spokesperson Elizabeth Kaltman told The Reg in an email: “The Librarian’s decision unnecessarily blurs the bright line established in the DMCA against circumvention of technical protection measures and undermines the DMCA, which has fostered greater access to more works by more people than at any time in our history.”

Apple don’t appear to be making a comment.

The EFF have been pushing for this since 2008, arguing that the DMCA unnecessarily infringed upon handset owners’ “freedom to tinker” and blocked remix video creators from access to snippets of videos and movies that they wanted to use in creative, commentary-focused, or educational works.

Last year, Apple filed a 27-page document that repeatedly disagreed. They said that a “host of bad consequences that will flow from it”. They also spoke of the dangers system instability, product safety, viruses and malware and the inability to update software. Oh, and porn.

EFF’s counsel, Fred von Lohmann, countered Apple’s argument in part by saying: “I have a Toyota. Toyota would, of course, prefer that I use nothing but authentic Toyota parts and Toyota dealers for service, and that they would also prefer that I not modify my Toyota in ways that might be dangerous to me. I appreciate all that, but it is my automobile at the end of the day.”

We hear you – you’re sick beyond the back teeth of all the iPhone posts. What about a proper handset for the more discerning tech lover? As luck would have it, we’ve received an exciting offer in the Bitterwallet inbox:

buy one lovely hi phone at awful price and get one free

“hello my name is mr james mark i am a shipper of hi phones for some couples of years.. From top-class smart phones to  phone lovers,you’ll find all exquisite gadgets here are excellent and exactly right for you or your customers. Especially , and we are in apromo called you buy one and get one free Our best sales representives are always ready to assist you to solve any problem in or after purchse. Shop today! Bigger wholesale quantities give you bigger discounts.”

The HiPhone is nothing new, having been available now in one form or another for a couple of years. In case you missed it at the time, here’s what we’re dealing with:

Regardless, we’re delighted to be approached to be an official UK retailer of this prestigious handset. We’re sure you’ll agree – there’s a certain brand synergy between Bitterwallet and the HiPhone. We’re giving it some serious thought, and our cheque will no doubt be in the post to SoundAsia this afternoon.

Homosexualist iPhone and Blackberry users who are looking a no-strings bout of Yankee Doodle have had things their own way for far too long, thanks to Grindr. For those not in the know, it’s an app that uses GPS technology to “Find gay, bi, curious guys for free near you!” Ooooh, saucy eh?

Helped on by a major plug from Stephen Fry on an episode of Top Gear, Grindr has gone on to be hugely successful, and is used by more than 700,000 men in 162 countries, all of them with a bit of illicit man-love on their minds. The app shows pictures of nearby gay men who are ‘up’ for ‘it’

Naturally, it makes sense to open the idea up to the heterosexualists as well, and the man behind Grindr, Joel Simkhai says there’ll be another version of Grindr on its way soon, allowing randy gentlemen and randy ladies to hook up and bang the living daylights out of each other.

Isn’t technology marvellous everyone?

[Guardian]

A US Best Buy employee faces the sack this week after his bosses frowned upon a couple of animated videos he made that haul the piss out of mobile phone customers.

Although the videos (featured below, both NSFW) do not actually refer to Best Buy directly, the retail giant have decided that the fact that aspiring funnyman Brian Maupin has poked fun at the customers which he serves every day is enough to give him the tin tack.

Maupin has been suspended and expects to get his cards early this week. Whether or not he’ll be signed up by Comedy Central to make a series of these remains to be seen….

Apple stuff. Overpriced evangelical rubbish, eh?

Well how about getting the chance to bag one of those new iPhone 4’s for £99? Changed your tune? No? Sod off then. Those of you still left will be interested in this advertorial article seen over at the Guardian where some site called Groupola are offering the latest smartphone for piss-all.

With £400 knocked off the price, there’s gotta be a catch, right? Well, apparently, there’s only a limited number of handsets available and these will only be offered to email subscribers.

Obviously, this is a very easy way of getting numbers up and email addresses… but limited number? How many? Three?

Mark Pearson, managing director of Groupola, says: “Given that the iPhone 4 sold out through pre-orders alone in just 48 hours through the Apple store, we thought it was only right to offer loyal Groupola.com discount hunters another bite of the cherry. We’ve proved that the concept of group buying can work within the UK.”

To be in-it-to-win-it, you need to sign up for the daily alerts and you’ll be sent a link on 1st July which will allow you to buy the phone on 2nd July. Obviously, it’ll be first come, first served.

“My advice is to open the link the second the clock ticks over at 9.30am – by 9.31am you may already have been too late,” adds Pearson.

Because they’ve only got three.

Next week, there’ll be a competition called “How To Get A Free Advert In The Guardian” which will see readers asked to designed a flashing pop-up ad which enables you the chance to get your teeth whitened by a millionth customer who has an iPad glued to their face.

[Reddit]

If you’ve purchased an unlocked iPhone from the Apple Store you may have had a slightly unpleasant surprise when it showed up yesterday. As with the iPad, Apple have eschewed the normal SIM card for the new micro-SIM format. So if you went to pop your current sim into the new iPhone 4 you’d have noticed it doesn’t fit into the sim tray.

If you’re on o2 or Vodafone you can request a new micro-SIM replacement but many stores are currently short on micro-SIM’s or just not helpful about replacing them.

Fortunately although the new format is physically smaller (12mm x 15mm) the chip contact points are exactly the same. All you need is a small sharp knife or scissors and five minutes later you’ll have a working micro-SIM to pop into your iPhone (or iPad).

What you need:

1. Download this template and print it onto an A4 sheet of paper
2. Tape your normal sim firmly onto the guide.
3. Line up a ruler on the line guides and cut across the sim.
4. Round off the corners (the iPhone sim tray has rounded corners).
5. Pop your newly created sim into the sim tray and put it in your iPhone!

If you later need this microsim to be a normal sim you can buy a cheap sim converter that you pops around the microsim to make it standard size.