In this episode of the Apple Universe Podcast, Macworld predictions run high, and a iPhone battery review heats up!

News:

• AT&T Begins Selling $99 (Refurbished) iPhone
• New iMacs Shipping January 2009?
• Apple Updates MobileMe Online Apps
• Get VMWare Fusion 2.0 at a steal, after rebates, free upgrade
• 1Password for iPhone Adds Landscape Mode Support and Password Generator
• Blogo 1.2 adds Ping.fm, Expression Engine, HTML, Comment Moderation
• App4mac releases CheckUp 2.0 Public Beta for Mac OS X

Review:

• Richard|Solo 1800
• Mophie iPhone 3G Juicepack
• FastMac iV

Host/Executive Producer: Daniel Brusilovsky
Associate Producer: Sean Blake
Length: 20:26

Sponsors:

• Drop.io – Simple Private Sharing
• iCultur – iCultur.com is a new and exciting environment on the Internet for everyone out there who loves to “think different”
• shinywhitebox – Great software for Mac. The makers of iShowU, Stomp and now Chatter!
• Skitch – The best screen capture program for the Mac!

If you would like to sponsor Apple Universe, contact the Sales team at sales@appleuniversepodcast.com.

Theme Music is provided by Daphna Kalfon. Apple Universe is a proud member of the Tech Podcast Network and the Teen Podcasters Network.

The long awaited iPhone firmware version 2.2 has appeared in iTunes. You can install it now by clicking the “Check for Update” button in your iPhone Summary panel. The iPhone 2.2 update includes:

- Google Street View in Google Maps
- Public Transit and Walking directions in Google Maps
- Display the address of a place when you drop a pin
- Share your location via email
- A fix for a scheduled fetching of email bug
- Improved stability and performance of Safari
- Podcasts can be downloaded right to the iPhone over WiFi or 3G
- A decrease in call failures/dropped calls
- Improved sound quality of visual voicemail messages
- The ability to return to the main home iPhone screen with the click of the home button
- The ability to turn on and off the keyboard auto-correction feature

Also, Apple has released iTunes 8.02. The update is available in your Mac OS X software update.

iTunes 8.0.2 improves stability and performance and provides a number of important bug fixes, including:

- Addresses a quality issue creating MP3s on some computers.
- Fixes a connectivity issue with the iTunes Store when using some Internet proxies with Mac OS X.
- Improves accessibility with VoiceOver.

[Information provided via MacRumors and VentureBeat]

UPDATE: iPhone 2.2 firmware update is successful for me as of 11:03 PM PST. Pictures of the process have been posted on my Flickr account here.

In this episode of the Apple Universe Podcast, Michael Johnston (@michaeljohnston on Twitter), Editor in Chief of iPhoneAlley: All Things iPhone.

• QuickPwn 2.1 For Windows Released
• Trism Rakes In $250,000 In Two Months
• iCopter
• iPhone Alley Podcast

This week, Daniel reviewed the Xtand by Just Mobile. The Just Mobile Xtand holds the iPhone vertically or horizontally, and rotates 360º so that you have your choice of viewing angles. The Xtand received 4.5 out of 5 stars from Daniel.

Consumers can buy the JustMobile® Xtand™ from myGearStore and, nuCourse Distribution is the
only national distributor of the aforementioned product.

Host/Executive Producer: Daniel Brusilovsky
Associate Producer: Sean Blake

REMINDER: The 2008 PodCastAwards are up and running, so please vote for Apple Universe! Just headover to PodCastAwards.com, fill in Apple Universe Podcast and the URL (http://www.appleuniversepodcast.com) and head to the bottom of the page, and fill in your info.

Sponsors:

• Drop.io – Simple Private Sharing
• iCultur – iCultur.com is a new and exciting environment on the Internet for everyone out there who loves to “think different”
• shinywhitebox – Great software for Mac. The makers of iShowU, Stomp and now Chatter!
• Skitch – The best screen capture program for the Mac!

If you would like to sponsor Apple Universe, contact the Sales team at sales@appleuniversepodcast.com.

Theme Music is provided by Daphna Kalfon. Apple Universe is a proud member of the Tech Podcast Network and the Teen Podcasters Network.

In this episode of the Apple Universe Podcast, Daniel talks about the latest news regarding the iPhone 3G USB Power Adapter recall, Mac OS 10.5.6, and much more!

• Apple Recalls iPhone 3G USB Power Adapter
• Over 1 Million NBC Downloads Since Return to iTunes
• Blu-ray Support in Mac OS X 10.5.6?
• Microsoft’s “I’m a PC” Ad Airs
• VMware Fusion 2.0 and Parallels 4.0 Beta

This week, Daniel reviewed the AG-225H from ZyXEL. The AG-225H received 3.5 out of 5 stars from Daniel.

REMINDER: The 2008 PodCastAwards are up and running, so please vote for Apple Universe! Just headover to PodCastAwards.com, fill in Apple Universe Podcast and the URL (http://www.appleuniversepodcast.com) and head to the bottom of the page, and fill in your info.

Sponsors:

• Drop.io – Simple Private Sharing
• iCultur – iCultur.com is a new and exciting environment on the Internet for everyone out there who loves to “think different”
• shinywhitebox – Great software for Mac. The makers of iShowU, Stomp and now Chatter!
• Skitch – The best screen capture program for the Mac!

If you would like to sponsor Apple Universe, contact the Sales team at sales@appleuniversepodcast.com.

Theme Music is provided by Daphna Kalfon. Apple Universe is a proud member of the Tech Podcast Network and the Teen Podcasters Network.