Last week was the CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment conference. We had coverage at a few of our sites, but Kevin Michaluk and I also sat down with Mickey Papillon of The Cell Phone Junkie to record a podcast about our thoughts on the event – worth checking out. Here’s what else went on in the smartphone world this week.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Best of Smartphone Experts, 11 Oct 2009

Digital Trends and Leif Iverson was gracious enough to have me on their podcast last week, and we took the opportunity to talk:

• How To Read e-Books On Your iPhone
• Apple Tablet: Latest Updates
• CTIA 2009: Best Of Show

Digital Trends has also updated with a great new look, and more gadget content than you can shake an accelerometer at, so be sure to check it out.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb on Digital Trends: iTablet, eBooks on iPhone, and CTIA

For those of you who are not familiar with our Apps for Less posts, they are a great way for us to point out a few good iPhone (and iPod touch) applications available in the App Store that are currently on sale, or ones that have come down permanently to a price that we feel are worth mentioning to our readers.

For those of you looking for some freebies, today happens to be your lucky day. You can now download all 16 applications that developer Chilli X has released to date for free. This deal ends by the end of today so act fast. You are bound to find a few of the 16 apps that you may be interested in. To see a complete list of what is available simply search for “Chilli X” within iTunes or directly from within the App Store on your iPhone.

If you see any other great weekend deals, let us know in the comments, or send them our way any time for inclusion in a future Apps for Less!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apps for Less: All Chilli X Apps Free Today

This one will be painful to watch for the good folks over at Precentral.net. Heck, even we feel a bit bad about this one but It seems as if the owner of this particular Pre had some major screen issues that he couldn’t live with any longer – 3 cracked screens in the span of 3 months.

Rest be assured, this device will be replaced with a new iPhone 3GS. At least that’s what his friends told him…

[Via Gizmodo]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Dunk a Palm Pre and Win an iPhone 3GS

George Hotz, the man who brought you the jailbreak tool purplera1n, has once again impressed us all and this time it’s an all iPhone 3.1.2 jailbreak only solution, blackra1n. Mac users need not apply as blackra1n is currently a Windows only application.

So, what is blackra1n? blackra1n is a 30 second ALL device 3.1.2 jailbreak. Even the ipt3, but the ipt3 is tethered. In order to boot it, just rerun blackra1n. As far as donations go, they are much appreciated, but not until after blackra1n works for you. I never ask for donations before the tool is released.

It should be noted that 3G and 3GS unlockers should still avoid updating to 3.1.2 using iTunes as blackra1n is not capable of unlocking your device. By updating you will update your firmware baseband to a version that can not be downgraded at this time. If you are looking to unlock you need to follow the Dev Teams tools and instructions.

TiPb takes no responsibility for your jailbreak outcome. Need help? Check out our iPhone Jailbreak and Unlock forum.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Universal iPhone/iPod touch 3.1.2 Jailbreak Tool blackra1n for Windows Released

T-Mobile has issued a warning that the ongoing, dare we say catastrophic failure of the Sidekick servers could result in permanent data loss if Sidekick users in any way reset their devices during the outage:

“Sidekick customers, during this service disruption, please DO NOT remove your battery, reset your Sidekick, or allow it to lose power.”

Scary, but also an urgent reminder to everyone who uses Cloud Services, including iPhone owners with MobileMe, Exchange ActiveSync, Google Gmail/Calendar, or any other, similar accounts.

Best practices dictate that data doesn’t exist unless it’s in at least three locations: local, local backup, and off-site backup. Cloud covers offsite (so does a duplicate drive at another location), but if any of your data is irreplaceable, even important, you need to make sure it’s backed up locally.

You can typically save emails, and export calendars and contacts. You can get cheap external hard drives and either manually copy your files over or get easy-to-use automatic backup solutions (some, like Shadow Copy for Windows and Time Machine for Mac are even built into the OS).

Storage is cheap, photos, videos, information, etc. can be priceless. Back it up now. If you need help or advice, check out TiPb’s iPhone Forums.

[ZDNet via Engadget]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

T-Mobile Warns Sidekick Data May be Lost — Timely Backup Reminder for All

Every week a few of us from team TiPb, bloggers and forum crew alike, will bring you our current favorite, funnest, most useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone (or iPod touch) related, they’re fair game.

So who’s on deck this week and what are our picks? Find out after the break!

Chad’s Pick: MyStarbucks

This app rocks for several reasons including the ability to send invites to friends via email with store location info and more for meetings, etc. You can also create your own hot or cold beverage, save and share with your friends. A complete food list is accessible as well and if you are looking for coffee bean details, they can be found here too. [Free - iTunes link]

Chris’ Pick: Vconqr

I am trying to find the perfect Risk-style game, and am currently trying out Vconqr. It has a nice interface, easy to play and simple graphics. It doesn’t have some of the customization options of the other games, but it is great for just a quick game of Ris….er, Vconqr. Until they actually come out with Risk, this is a good compromise. [$3.99 - iTunes link]

James’ Pick: ESPN Radio

I am a sports junkie. I can’t get enough of my Chicago teams. Anywhere I go, I usually listen to espnradio1000.com. Unfortunately for me, my work VPN blocks the radio stream. Now I can listen to ESPN no matter where I am. For fans of other cities, the app has streams of the main radio and other cities such as New York and Dallas. [$2.99 - iTunes link]

Jeremy’s Pick: South Park Mega Millionaire

South Park Mega Millionaire let’s you help Cartman, Stan, Kyle, and Kenny as they skate their way through a series of challenges. Any true fan of South will appreciate this game a lot more than the previous attempt of South Park Imagination Land. [$2.99 - iTunes link]

Josh’s Pick: Tap Tap Revenge Classic

Basically it’s like guitar hero or rockband on the iPhone. I play it every day, like a bad addiction – lol! 100s of songs to play, it never gets old with even classic hits such as Free Bird and Sweet Home Alabama from Lynard Skynard. [$0.99 - iTunes link]

Leanna’s Pick: Twitbit 2.0

There are still only a handful of Twitter applications that offer push notification and with Twitbit’s new update, Twitbit 2.0 is the by far the best one. It has a clean UI, isn’t lacking in important features, and mentions and direct messages are quickly pushed with less than a 2 minute delay. I have a bit of a Twitter app addiction, but Twitbit is the only one that lives on my home page. [$2.99 - iTunes link]

Matt’s Pick: Photoshop.com Mobile

I was begining to wonder when Adobe might hop on the iPhone app creation boat… This application allows you to edit your photos – from croping them to adding special effects to your photos. The application is quite powerful and incredibly easy to use. Within the app you can also register with Photoshop.com and upload you pictures to their photo hosting service and share/edit/link your photos. (Includes 2GB for free!) On a side note, the online side of the service is really quite awesome and very intuitive. At its price, you can’t beat it. Download this one now! [Free - iTunes link]

Rene’s Pick: Ramp Champ

Ramp Champ is co-developed by Iconfactory, so you know it’s pixel perfect. A skee-ball type casual, fun, time passer it’s perfect for the iPhone. Thanks to in-app purchase you can buy more ramps when — make that if — you get through the 4 for so that come with the app. I say if because, while the first challenge is easy, the second is hard, and I think I’ll need an Ambrose Chase-style description field to get through the third. And did I mention it’s gorgeous as well? [$1.99 - iTunes link]

Your Pick?

You’re part of team TiPb too, so what’s your pick? What app was your absolute fav last week? Let us — and everyone — know in the comments!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

MyStarbucks, Vconqr, ESPN Radio, South Park Mega Millionaire, Tap Tap Revenge Classic, TwitBit 2.0, Photoshop.com Mobile, Ramp Champ — TiPb Picks of the Week!