End User: Bites from the Apple: The Waiting Is the Hardest Part

Choose your countdown widget wisely.

The iPhone 2.0 beta software includes the ability to toggle 3G connectivity on and off.

The 3G iPhone. We all know it's coming, what with all the leaks from Apple's European partners to evidence hidden within the iPhone 2.0 beta (see right). We all know when it's coming--or at least when it will be officially unveiled--with strong odds for Steve Jobs' keynote at the WWDC on June 9 (just 23-and-a-half days or so, depending on your countdown widget). So rather than fuel the wild and wide-eyed speculation that seems to be gripping the gadgetosphere (there might be an iPhone tablet, or not; there might be multiple colors, or not), we'll try to focus on other found objects of Apple-y goodness from the week that was:

Another possibility for announcement at the Worldwide Developer's Conference is a Macbook Pro (as postulated by Wired's Gadget Lab and commented on by Boing Boing Gadgets).
French cell provider Orange announced today that it will be bringing the iPhone to several other territories, including Jordan in the Middle East and the African countries served by Orange. While Macworld writes that the iPhone may have an uphill battle in some of those territories, MacNN reports that the iPhone is still quite popular within the worldwide gray market. Foreign Policy also has a short article on the iPhone gray market and theorizes that Apple has been using this as a way to test markets that haven't been given an official introduction.
Proving that it's the little things that add up to Apple-y goodness, Lifehacker lists the top 10 things you forgot your Mac could do.
Another attempt at launching its iPhone Wi-Fi service has gone awry for AT&T--this time, it's been put on indefinite hold.
As a freelancer, I'm always on the hunt for a better way to coalesce all the competing cries for my attention from my tasks and calendar items. MacUser points us to the new 1.1 version of Today from Second Gear (hat tip to TUAW), which places both your daily events and tasks into one easily readable and accessible (via a user-defined keyboard command) application that allows you to keep iCal closed. On the plus side, it helps you focus on what needs doing for the day, and it allows you to create both tasks and appointments. However, you need to open iCal to do any editing. A better option for managing tasks is the DoBeDo dashboard widget from Blue Henley, which offers editing capabilities.
Have you seen the trailer to Wall-E, the new Pixar movie coming this summer? If you wondered about the hint of Apple-y design in Wall-E's love interest Eve, it comes from a very Apple-y source: Jonathan Ive, the man who helped design the iMac and iPhone (via Fortune).
Tip of the week: how to burn multiple CDs from iTunes.
For Jailbreakers Only: Go really old school with your unlocked iPhone when you add rotary dialing to your screen with iDial.
Weekend reading: London's Guardian newspaper has a pretty interesting article written by Tim Anderson on the state of DRM (digital rights management) and music. The most eye-opening tidbit is that since EMI when DRM-less with Apple (and subsequently with the Amazon MP3 store, where it was joined by many other major labels), there's been no astronomical increase in file sharing (one of the main worries from the labels about going to DRM). And with more and more sources for legal DRM-free downloadable music, Anderson sees Apple turning back to DRM to counter its rivals with a subscription service.
Finally, I'll leave you with the video for "Again and Again" by The Bird and the Bee, which makes extensive use of Mac OS X Leopard (via Boing Boing Gadgets).