So I’ve been reading quite a bit of mixed messages about the 3G iPhone. Some absolutely love it and won’t use another handset again. Others think their 3G iPhone is under performing due to 3G network issues.

So what have your experiences been like with your 3G iPhone? Good? Bad? Ugly?

Hmm, could this be the invisibility cloak everyone is talking about? I doubt it, but you be the judge…

I was working at Best Buy when Apple first started integrating itself into the electronics retailer. It wasn’t a whole lot, but the Apple section had some demos and an Apple specialist was generally there to answer questions. The marriage of Apple and Best Buy isn’t a weird fit, but Apple always tends to be a maverick or a loner. So their addition to the Best Buy supply is kind of surprising, but overall a good business decision.

Apple looks to add to the partnership even more when the iPhone goes on sale at Best Buy. Starting September 7th Best Buy will begin carrying Apple’s handset. Before this the iPhone could only be found at an Apple store or an AT&T carrier. As the fight for electronics grows on, and places like Wal-Mart and Target become more viable; Best Buy will have to find a way to differentiate itself from the competition.

Partnering with Apple is a good place to start.

Wars and skirmishes, they aren’t what they used to be. I remember the good ol’ days when battles were fought with guns and swords, and more recently with nuclear stand-offs. Now it seems that Russia or atleast some of its citizens are fighting online. Most “wars” that occur in an online setting generally happen in a forum. Just go to a movie forum and read some of the posts for on-going Matrix vs. Lord Of The Rings discussions and you’ll see what I mean. Of course the Russia-Georgia conflict is more important than movie arguments; and the online battle has gotten more serious as well. For some information on the conflict, visit USA Today’s article here.

What started as hate speech against Georgia on a Russian based site has turned into DDoS attacks against some Georgian government websites. ZDNet has coverage on the happening, and it really is some crazy hacker shenanigans. The attacks have been going on for awhile now, even before the conflict has caught fire, ““Several Georgian state computer servers have been under external control since shortly before Russia’s intervention into the state commenced on Friday, leaving its online presence in dissaray.”

The attacks have gotten so bad that the Georgian sites that have been hacked; have switched servers. These sites are now on American servers based in Atlanta, GA. A hosting company there is owned by a Georgian-born citizen (I bet it gets annoying telling people where you’re from…I couldn’t resist), offered to transfer the sites to her own servers.

Georgian hackers have been trying to retaliate. But Russian hackers have actually locked out Georgia’s most popular hacker discussion forum.

This whole fiasco has really left Georgia in a sense of confusion. For many people, going onto these various sites have been their main form of information. The sites have gone from being defaced (pictures of the Georgian leader next to Hitler), to being completely made inaccessible. On top of switching servers, many sites have resorted to blogging sites to release news.

This whole mess just goes to show how the world is changing; specifically on how information is traded. Who would have thought that hackers could cause such damage, especially to a country that’s in a dire situation. Maybe we should hack into Osama’s site, and put up an American flag, with a picture of Kenny Roger’s photoshopped over his face. Hackers, get to it.

It wasn’t a good week for gamers last week. Two violent and heinous crimes, committed in two places around the world both have links to video games. The first was a stabbing that occured in a taxi cab in Bangkok, Thailand. Then in a separate incident, three teenagers were arrested in an Atlanta suburb for throwing molotov cocktails at parked cars.

Thailand has now responded to their violent crime. At first they urged New Era Interactive Media Co. to pull the game from the shelves. Which I don’t understand, because if people really want a game, then they’ll go anywhere to get it. Of course I don’t know Thailand very well, so that might have been the only place to get it.

This is a priceless quote, from one of Thailand’s Health Ministry spokesman, “Some parents don’t know what their children are playing and are just happy they are not out of their sight. But these games can have very damaging psychological effect on children, especially games which depict violence so casually.”

The second sentence is pretty debatable; some studies find a connection while some dont. I’m not sure if the health minister realized he made an oxymoron with the first statement. How would parents not know what their children are playing, if they’re keeping an eye on them?

As another precaution, the Health Ministry released a list of violent video games; to educate parents:
Grand Theft Auto
Manhunt
Scarface
50 Cent Bulletproof
300 The Videogame
The Godfather
Killer-7
Resident Evil 4
God of War
Hitman Blood Money

The scariest part of Thailand’s fight against games is that they plan to setup a committee to study violence in games. If they are able to come through, then the committee could deem a game as being violent and request stores not to sell it.

I know it’s a cliche’ statement, but I’m so glad to live in America. We can be prudish at times, but atleast we get to decide as a people what’s deemed appropriate or not. I will say that video games with violence aren’t for everyone. Some kids are more impressionable than others, and shouldn’t be subjected to violent images. But this is the job of the parents to decide what their child watches or doesn’t. It isn’t up to the government or video game companies.

If you thought that the Olympics was all about sports, and national pride, then you were wrong. The Olympics is working as a catapult for displaying technology and how it can affect sports. Here’s a video showing off various technologies you can expect to show up in Beijing, for the 2008 Summer Olympics.