Starting next week, there’ll be a new way to run Windows applications on a Mac. VMWare’s Fusion. “As I write this column on a Mac laptop using the Mac version of Microsoft Word,” Walt Mossberg (Wall Street Journal) reports, “Fusion is allowing me to simultaneously run several popular Windows programs—Microsoft Outlook, Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer. Each is running in its own window, just as if it were a native Mac program. I can switch from one to the other rapidly and smoothly. Their icons show up on the Mac’s ‘Dock’ just like the icons for Mac programs.” Software like Fusion, concludes Mossberg, gives “the Macintosh a level of versatility that can’t be matched by Windows-only machines.”

In the past several months, gadget lovers all over the world have been treated to the suspense of awaiting Apple’s new gadget, the iPhone. Apple has always been known to place such high value in their customers’ satisfaction. That is perhaps one big reason for the inevitable popularity of its products. It’s iPod for example, changed the way we listen to music. It revolutionized the portable music player landscape. Now, with the iPhone, it seems to be poised to do the same thing to the mobile phone cum PDA landscape.

Recently released late this June, the iPhone has received mostly good reviews. Of course, there are some negative voices out there but it is safe to say that the iPhone has so far lived up to people’s expectations. The iPhone is basically a mobile phone with the plus of being an Internet device as well. More than that, it has music player capabilities like that of the iPod. Of course, the now standard camera on mobile phones is also present.

So what makes the iPhone different from all the other phones in existence today? For one, Apple has gotten rid of the conventional keypad for mobile phones. Instead, they replaced this with a touch screen feature. As such, what you get with the iPhone is one big screen with which you can view everything. It also serves as your keypad. This can be both a curse and a blessing in one, depending on the user. For many though, this innovation is heaven sent.

Aside from making calls and sending text messages, what else can you do with the iPhone? As mentioned earlier, it is meant to be used online as well. That means that you can surf the Web using the Mac Safari web browser. It is WiFi ready, meaning that you can access the Internet wherever there is a WiFi signal.
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Locked phones are generally used to help operators recoup the cost of subsidizing handsets for their customers, but AT&T is not subsidizing the iPhone, which is priced at either US$499 or $599, depending on the model. Instead, the phone is locked because AT&T has a five-year agreement with Apple to be the sole iPhone provider in the U.S.

Unlocking the iPhone would be a boon for users locked into a contract with another U.S. carrier, or for users outside the U.S. who want an iPhone. While initial signs indicate an unlocked iPhone is possible, hackers must first overcome several challenges. One of those involves circumventing the authentication process in iTunes that both lets users register for an AT&T service plan and turn on the phone’s features, including its camera and music player.

By Monday evening, U.S. time, hackers had made headway towards circumventing the activation process. But the phone remained locked at the time of writing.
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