On the 12th day of Christmas iTunes gave to me…
The Smiths - “Panic”
This free download is available for 24 hours on January 6, 2009.

Where to start? The Smiths are one of the most influential bands of all time, their reputation built on four classic albums. Their influence on a generation of songwriters can be heard in the work of modern favourites such as Radiohead, Oasis, Blur and more. The relationship between Morrissey and Marr was frought, but delivered music that will be remembered forever. “Panic” was one of their greatest tracks and a perfect introduction to this great band. For today only, you can download their music video for “Panic” absolutely free! If you like what you hear, why not find out more?

This Texas-based, 23 year old girl has posted the picture above to MySpace, but has since removed it from there - I don’t want to know what she was up to…

Dear Apple Community,

For the first time in a decade, I’m getting to spend the holiday season with my family, rather than intensely preparing for a Macworld keynote.

Unfortunately, my decision to have Phil deliver the Macworld keynote set off another flurry of rumors about my health, with some even publishing stories of me on my deathbed.

I’ve decided to share something very personal with the Apple community so that we can all relax and enjoy the show tomorrow.

As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008. The reason has been a mystery to me and my doctors. A few weeks ago, I decided that getting to the root cause of this and reversing it needed to become my #1 priority.

Fortunately, after further testing, my doctors think they have found the cause—a hormone imbalance that has been “robbing” me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. Sophisticated blood tests have confirmed this diagnosis.

The remedy for this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward, and I’ve already begun treatment. But, just like I didn’t lose this much weight and body mass in a week or a month, my doctors expect it will take me until late this Spring to regain it. I will continue as Apple’s CEO during my recovery.

I have given more than my all to Apple for the past 11 years now. I will be the first one to step up and tell our Board of Directors if I can no longer continue to fulfill my duties as Apple’s CEO. I hope the Apple community will support me in my recovery and know that I will always put what is best for Apple first.

So now I’ve said more than I wanted to say, and all that I am going to say, about this.

Steve

On the 11th day of Christmas iTunes gave to me…
John Legend - “If You’re Out There”
This free download is available for 24 hours on January 5, 2009.

American soul singer, songwriter, pianist, and nicest man in music, John Legend is one of US music’s biggest stars. Alongside high profile collaborations with Kanye West, Jay-Z, Lauryn Hill and Alicia Keys, John has won five Grammy Awards as a solo artist. His third studio album “Evolver” has been a smash hit across the world, and for today only, you can download the powerful ballad “If You’re Out There” on iTunes completely free!

If you like what you hear, why not find out more?

The reason behind this is due to the perceived lack of 3G coverage on some areas - AT&T has started to move 2G devices to the “weaker” 1900MhZ band, while reserving the 850MhZ band to 3G only boxen. Customers with a non-3G capable phone (like most BlackBerries, Palm OS Treos or the iPhone 2G) will experience severely degraded signal strength in these areas: which means that phone calls will be dropped in areas where quality of service was not an issue before.

Some AT&T technicians have offered a truly outrageous solution: a 200$ credit which would neither offset the higher cost for 3G plans, nor cover equipment replacements:

When I contacted AT&T’s technical support seeking a solution to the problem, the company did offer a $200 one-time credit, a helpful offer, but not nearly enough to offset replacing my family’s two perfectly functional iPhones and additional Nokia handset (equipment totaling about $1,000 in value over the last two years), nor did the company offer to offset the additional fees attached to the new phones (a cumulative total of $30/month). The standard upgrade offered was pursuant to a new two-year contract on all three lines. Over the course of the next two years, AT&T’s offer would cost an additional $920 plus tax to restore the level of service previously available.

As of now, lawyers have not decided on whether this constitutes a “breach of contract”, which would allow customers to terminate their contract immediately and without penalties (another popular example was the recent CDMA SMS price hike). As the risk for the individual is low (and the class of users is huge), I dare to predict that this will change in the near future…

From my personal point of view, this move is outrageous: it targets less vocal customers (people still using a 2G phone are less likely to be in tech communities according to AT&T’s thinking IMHO), and fuxates the service provided to the majority of users to benefit a small minority.

The Tamoggemon Content team would be thankful for your feedback - if you have any issues, send us an email and we see what we can do for you!

Image: (c) abc texte / Dr. Doris Maria Kohrs - all rights reserved!

While the device pictured does exist, its case was not produced by Apple but rather by an ominous Hong-Kong based manufacturer who offers these aftermarket cases on ebay in a variety of colors including pink:

P.S. I am not sure what this tells us about the pink iPhone 3G spotted recently - after all, this critter had a black SIM tray…

The Tamoggemon Content team is honored to announce that we have been selected to run the prestigious Carnival of the Mobilists on the 20th of July 2009!

We have to thank the organizers for putting trust into this very young site, and hope to serve you all well and thereby fulfill their expectations for the years to come! We furthermore thank all submitters in advance and promise that we will do the best work possible!

Further information can be had in the host schedule linked below:
http://mobili.st/?page_id=144

P.S. In case anyone of you wonders what this is all about: the so-called Carnival of the Mobilists is a weekly event where a blog host is selected to present an overview of interesting mobile computing content posted in the last week.

People writing at online news services can contribute their posts via the URL above without any further ado. People wanting to host the Carnival must be of good standing in the mobile computing market and must furthermore prove their capabilities as an author by participating in the Carnival at least three times.

On the 10th day of Christmas iTunes gave to me…
Elbow - “Grounds For Divorce (Live)”
This free download is available for 24 hours on January 4, 2009.

Elbow are one of the best bands the UK has ever produced. Criminally underrated for their first three albums, the band grabbed the recognition they deserve — and won 2008’s Mercury Music Prize — with fourth album “The Seldom Seen Kid”. They also played one of our favourite gigs of the year in London’s Apple Store, and a recording of that exclusive show is available on iTunes. For today only, you can download their Apple store live version of hit single “Grounds For Divorce” absolutely free! If you like what you hear, why not find out more?

P.S. Sorry for the delay - was traveling all day!

1. Samsung Omnia i900 (2)
2. RIM BlackBerry Storm 9530 (New)
3. RIM BlackBerry Curve 8300 (4)
4. iPod touch (6)
5. RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8100 (8)
6. Nokia E71 (7)
7. iphone 3G (returning)
8. T-Mobile G1 (1)
9. HTC Touch Diamond (3)
10. LG Incite (New)

When breaking this down on a per-platform level, the platforms appear rather balanced. RIM and touchscreened Windows Mobile devices claim three places each, with Apple following suite with 2 (which means that all their devices are in the top ten). Nokia’s S60 platform manages to stay in with one device, as does Android - Palm OS and WM Standard devices have been decimated for now…

As I am sure that the piece will be edited shortly, I decided to take out the best passage:

I’m not quite sure why anyone cares. Sure, it’s nice to say you unlocked a device that’s not meant to be unlocked, but it just made so much more sense to me last year when the iPhone didn’t have native apps. Today, browsing is faster thanks to 3G, more capable thanks to additional business features, and more useful thanks to the App Store. What possible reason would people have to unlock it now?

Once again: yellowsn0w is NOT a jailbreak! It does NOT affect the running applications in any way - instead, all it does is allow you to use a SIM card of your choice (e.g. when roaming).

Makes sense? For us, yes. But, apparently, not for CNET News…