A couple of issues with the new iPhone 3GSs have shown up, but this is one that could be potentially serious. One user says his once shiny new white 3GS overheated while he was using the GPS and 3G connections for an extended period, resulting in an ugly brownish discoloration. Photos after the break.

MacRumors reports that Apple has posted an online database for checking the availability for iPhone 3GSs in Apple Retail Stores across the United States. Availability is updated close to an hourly basis. iPhone 3G stock is being updated only nightly with stock levels for the following morning at opening time. You can check it out at Apple.com.

Echoing previous years, Apple.com has once again posted an easy, online way for iPhone 3GS buyers to check and make sure their local Apple Retail Store has units on hand.

Both 16GB and 32GB, black- and white-backed models are shown, with nasty red squares connoting sell outs and happy green circles, supplies on hand.

So if you’re heading out to get your hands on an iPhone 3GS this weekend, give it a try, and let us know how it works for you.

[via MacRumors]

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

Apple Launches Online iPhone 3GS Availability Tracker

iPhone 3GS can record video reasonably well in most circumstances, but as it turns out, it works pretty well under water, too. YouTube user KhenaKara was trying out his new iPhone 3GS's video recording capabilities when it slipped out of his hands and down to it's watery grave, or so he thought at the time. To his great surprise, not only was it still functioning, but days later it still remains fully functional! Best of all, he posted the video to YouTube (after the break).

Apple has posted an online database to allow potential iPhone 3GS customers in the U.S. to check stock levels for the various models at Apple Retail Stores. Availability is updated at least hourly. Apple deployed similar tools for both the original...

A strange bug has been causing trouble for some iPhone OS 3.0 users. We haven't seen it ourselves yet, but several users on Apple's discussion boards are reporting strange problems with app icons being either blank white squares, switching icons with other apps, or disappearing altogether. TUAW confirmed the strange bug when their own Mel Martin had the AT&T Navigator app and Reuters News icon switch places. One developer says issues like these were highly common in the beta releases, and weren't fixed until the final release of the software.

Filed under: iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, App Review

The enthusiastic developers of Parranda were at WWDC to show off their app, a simple one-man-band party in your hand. Parranda (iTunes link) has a lot of polish, too, with instruments that aren't just one big button, like some "soundboard" music apps. The cowbell, for example, allows you to tap on different parts of the instrument, which any decent cowbell player will tell you, creates very different sounds. Mostly. You can zoom in or out on the instruments, something you will have to see in the video, but it is a nice effect and adds to the experience.

Parranda has pre-set rhythms to choose from, plus vocalizations to add a little spice to the performance. Already a hit in Puerto Rico, I think Parranda has a good shot everywhere, as it's a fun little app. Perhaps a bit more than you're used to paying at $2.99, but I think it's a fair price for the quality of the app.

WWDC Demo: Parranda for iPhone and iPod touch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

WWDC Demo: Parranda for iPhone and iPod touch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: iPhone, iPod touch

But not the right place, and that's the problem. Apple support boards are seeing increasing message traffic about icons that vanish, or attach themselves to the wrong app. This seems a problem with iPhone 3.0. Older versions seem unaffected.

I saw this myself yesterday. My AT&T Navigator app which I am testing for a forthcoming review, somehow acquired my Reuters News icon.

I deleted the AT&T app and re-downloaded it, but that didn't help. I reset the phone and that didn't help either. Finally I did a sync with all the apps turned off in the iPhone apps tab, then did another sync with my apps on. That restored the proper icon, but some of my apps acted like they had been downloaded for the first time and I had to set them up again.

This is clearly a real bug that Apple will have to address. There are some other solutions floating around on the Apple message boards, such as deleting the app, downloading it again, and restarting the phone. If you have the problem, I'd suggest you try the easiest solutions first.

Some other users are seeing icons turn white, while other app icons simply disappear. One developer said this was a common issue before the final release of the 3.0 software, and he was surprised to see it now.

Let us know if you've got this affliction and what you did to fix it, and be sure to let Apple know.

Thanks to Steve for the tip.

Gallery: Mixed up icons on iPhone OS 3.0

iPhone icons all over the place in version 3.0 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

iPhone icons all over the place in version 3.0 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sprint and the Palm Pre just decided to bring it to Apple’s iPhone via a perfectly nifty, if factually inaccurate(1), little ad-esque banner posted on Facebook. PreCentral.net already pipped us to the relevant quote post, citing McNamee’s infamous CEOh-snap moment from the past:

You know the beautiful thing: June 29, 2009, is the two- year anniversary of the first shipment of the iPhone, [...] Not one of those people will still be using an iPhone a month later.

The relative thriftiness of constraining their marketing budget to a Facebook fan-base aside, does it really behoove Palm to remind iPhone 2G owners that their contracts are up, right after 1,000,000 people jumped on the iPhone 3GS last weekend alone?

How does that compare to Palm Pre numbers to date?

(utter silence)

That’s what we thought…

1. The iPhone multitasks iPod, Mail, Phone, Safari iTunes, and App Store, phenomenally well — the iPhone 3GS more snappily than the arguably laggy Palm Pre. Apple simply chooses not to allow 3rd party multitasking at this point, something that admittedly chaffs, but is still a far cry from what’s insinuated in the “ad”.

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

1 Million Reasons why Palm Pre Shot at iPhone Misses the Pot

Google moved to boost its Android mobile device software platform this week by offering developers a kit that enables them to call native code from Android applications.