Kevin Rose's Predictions for the New iPhone Before He Makes Them

First things first: I have nothing personal against Kevin Rose. He has made digg a wild success, and he's been able to take his geek cred from the TechTV days and turn Revision 3 into one of the most popular online networks out there.

Every time an iPhone launch approaches though, it seems Kevin's sources give him definitive information on the next version of the iPhone. (See his previous predictions here and here.) It's not so much that Kevin shares what his sources are telling him, but that websites like Fortune and BusinessWeek gobble it up as fact (Don't hate the player, hate the game, I suppose.)

Here are the steps to creating your own Rose-inspired list of sure-fire features of the next phone.

1. Name the obvious or near obvious. The next iPhone will have 32GB of memory, or the phone will be slightly re-designed with a thinner profile. AT&T will remain exclusive for awhile, but talks are underway with other carriers.

2. Name a few talked about features, but make sure you're not hated if wrong:  There's still debate at Apple, but it looks like video chat is a no-go. See, if you're wrong, no one gets mad because they're thrilled to have the added feature. And after all, you did say it was still being discussed.

3. Major publications/websites spread your proclamations. This is where Kevin shines, and  you can't really blame him. Still you'd think other sites, especially news sites might stop to look at his track record, and see that his sources haven't proven much better at predicting or outing unexpected features than anyone else.

So there you have it, Kevin Rose says (before he's even said it) that the new iPhone will be slimmer, have more storage, might cost less, and won't have videochat. Unless it does. 

WWDC Dates / Events Set

Phew! Not a minute too soon! A little later than usual, but Apple has now made it official: WWDC 2009 will run from June 8-12 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. This puts to rest the beginning of some rumblings as to whether the event would be pushed back either due to software delays or Steve Jobs' health.

But now that's behind us, and developers of the world can start marking those calendars. Of note, it seems like Apple is pushing the iPhone 3.0 far harder than Snow Leopard for the event. Hey, they're not dumb, and they know where the money's coming from right now.

Any TDL readers headed to WWDC?

WWDC All Over Again

Maybe you missed out on our live coverage of WWDC the first time around. Maybe you think if you watch it again, this time Steve will announce the Apps store is available immediately, or maybe you just want something to listen to get through the work week.

In any event, below are the links to our live WWDC video coverage and analysis. Enjoy it, all over again...

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five

Where are the Apple apps?

I think we're almost out of our version of "one more thing" regarding the WWDC keynote. But there's been one more discussion going on here at HQ I wanted to open up to everybody: Where are the iPhone apps from Apple?

The iPhone offers a lot of cool opportunities (at least we assume) beyond porting programs from other platforms. How about a lite version of iMovie intended for the YouTube crowd: record short video clips, then do basic cuts before posting directly to your YouTube or (get used to it) Mobile Me account.

And what about iPhoto? For the megapixel size of the camera, the iPhone takes great pictures, but why not allow the user to do basic image adjustments?

There's always the chance that Apple held back on their own software given that this was the Developer's Conference: focused on getting others to create apps for the platform. That said, is there any other way to showcase what the device can do than to show off Apple-created apps? We also hear how quick it is to develop for the phone. Developers come out and talk about only working on something for a month, and how easy it is to program. But how about showing us something that's been in development, possibly for years at Apple? Why not show us what's possible when a programming team can devote full attention to creating apps. With time, we'll either start to see these apps, or we'll have to wonder if maybe the SDK doesn't allow for the kind of groundbreaking development we had hoped.

Inside scoop on Snow Leopard

Sure you watched the keynote, but you didn't get to see the afternoon session in which Apple unveiled a few details about OS X 10.6, or Snow Leopard. Fortunately, theilife.com was there:

What started as a rumor, then revealed at the WWDC Keynote: the next iteration of Mac OS X, version 10.6 will indeed be called Snow Leopard. Snow Leopard will “..build on the incredible success of OS X Leopard..” by “..focusing primarily on new features, Snow Leopard will enhance the performance of OS X”. Rumors say that this means no PowerPC support, and could possibly mark the end of existence for Carbon UI.

Apple says that by optimizing the new OS X for multi-core processors and tapping into the potential of graphic processing units (GPU) OS X become faster and more reliable and allow more vast amounts of RAM. Additionally, Snow Leopard will ship with Microsoft Exchange support out of the box and features QuickTime X, a “new, modern media platform”.

For the full story, plus pictures from the event, click here.